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,. ReviBw Publishing' GoMRANY; 
r . New York. >:;'^-: •:•?•::!:■ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap..J-„ Copyright No.. 

Shelf..:E4.5 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



HISTORY AND 

MANUFACTURE of 

FLOOR COVERINGS. 



COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY 

REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 

New York. 



PUBLISHERS OF THE 

CARPET TRADE REVIEW. UPHOLSTERY TRADE REVIEW. 

FURNITURE TRADE REVIEW. 

Established 1870. 



-\-A 



^ 



^ 



^'^^^ 




31706 

^HE Carpet and Upholstery Trade 
Review is the oldest, most important 
and influential publication devoted to 
the carpet, upholstery and kindred 
trades. It is published semi-monthly, these fort- 
nightly editions furnishing the readers with the 
latest trade news, general reviews of the markets 
and all other information rcc|uisite for a clear un- 
derstanding of the trade situation and outlook. 

A prominent feature of The Ren'iew is the large 
amount of high class, continuous advertising pa- 
tronage accorded to it, a fact which speaks vol- 
umes for the profitable results secured by its ad- 
vertisers. 

Its large circulation has been attained by many 
years of conservative, reliable management, and to 
the manufacturer and dealer alike its semi-monthly 
visits are as welcome as they are essential. 

TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 



APR 2 






PREKACE. 



^HE PURPOSE of this book is to present concisely, 
yet comprehensively, such information regard- 
ing the history and techniciue of the trade in 
floor coverings as is desirable and necessary for 
those who arc engaged in the making or selling of these 
goods. The necessity for this handbook must be obvious, 
for there is no similar work in existence. Articles relating 
to various branches of the industry have appeared occa- 
sionally in 1^11 E Review, but this work is the first in which 
the subject is handled in a systematic and fairly compre- 
hensive manner, the compiler's idea being to give the more 
salient facts, avoiding as far as possible purely technical 
terms or imessential details. 

To those who know little or nothing of the technique of 
the trade the illustrated explanation of the i)rinciple of the 
loom, on pages 89 and 90, and follow^ing this the Carpet 
Cyclopedia, will perhaps be especially useful, presenting as 
they do the general theory of weaving and brief definitions 
of the technical terms most used in the art, so far as it relates 
to floor covering manufacture. 



CONTENTS. 
(P"or index sec page 95.) 

PAGE 

Carpeting in Antiqnity 3 

Carpet Making in Great Britain 9 

The Carpet Industry in the United States 15 

Oriental Rugs and Cari)ets 25 

Savonneric ami Aubusson Carpets 41 

Hand-made and Chenille Axminsters 45 

Body Brussels and Wiltons 49 

Tapestry Brussels and Velvets 53 

Printed Tapestry Carpets 59 

Moquettes and Machine-made Axminsters 63 

Smyrna Rugs and Carpets 65 

Ingrain, Venetian and \Vo(jI Dutch Carpets 69 

Straw Matting 71 

Cocoa Matting 75 

Floor Oil Cloth 79 

Linoleum * 83 

Animal Skin Rugs and Mats 87 

Principle of the Loom 89 

Carpet Cyclopedia 91 

Index 95 



KI.OOR COVERINGS ; 



History and Manufacture. 



CHAPTER I. 



CAKi'EriNc, IN Antiqiiiy. 




\ tlie most ancient times known in his- 
tory, when the arts highest in 
favor among the inhabitants of 
this globe, oi;r amiable ances- 
tors, were those which helped 
men of one tribe to murder or 
rob members of another, but 
little thought was bestowed 
upon the matter of floor cov- 
erings. In the earliest huts, 
caves or tents the only attempt 
toward a carpeting consisted in strewing leaves of 
trees or grass, &c., over the ground. The next advance 
beyond such primitive expedients was in the use of animal 
skins. Later, with the progress of civilization and the 
growth of wealth and luxury, came floorings of variously 
colored wood, marbles and encaustic tiles. In ancient 
Greece and Rome mosaics of marble and artificial stone 
were used in the temples and in the houses of the rich. 



4 FLOOR CO]'ERINGS. 

Textile carpets were first made in Asia, and were in use 
there at a time when Europe was inhabited only by sav- 
ages. The ancient Egyptians made carpets of wool, and the 
woolen carpets of Babylon were well known at Rome dur- 
ing the second century. 

The Oriental looms of antiquity were in all essential re- 
spects the same as those upon which rugs and carpets are 
now woven in all the countries of the Orient, where carpet 
weaving is still done by hand labor, and, as is well known 
in the trade, the best product of these early looms has 
never been equaled by modern goods — so far as durability 
and beauty are concerned. 

Carpets were introduced into Spain at the time of the 
Moorish conquest of that country, ' and the Crusaders 
brought some Turkish carpets with them when they re- 
turned from the Holy Land. Italy received most of these 
goods, and they were dealt in by the enterprising Italian 
merchants long before they became known in many other 
parts of Europe. 

Mosaic floor coverings were introduced into Britain by 
the Romans. Planks of oak and deal came into use in 
Europe during the Middle Ages, and parquetry, com- 
posed of squares and lozenges of wood, found some favor 
among the wealthier classes. In the British Isles the 
earthen floors, seen even in the best houses of those times, 
were covered with rushes, hay or leaves. The weaving of 
these rushes to form a matting was a natural advance 
suggested perhaps by importations of Chinese and Indian 
matting. The weaving of straw matting was an art com- 
mon in China thousands of years ago. 

Long before textile carpets were known in Europe the 
noble ladies of England, Flanders and other European 
countries were accustomed to spend much of their time in 



H/S7\)RV AN/) MANUFACTURE. 5 

the making of tapestry or needle-work liangings for 
walls, and occasionally these fabrics \yere employed also 
as carpets. In the fourteenth century this work, iintil 
then a feminine accomplishment, was taken u]) as a trade. 
A factory was established for this purpose at Arras, in 
Flanders, and the manufacture soon spread to France and 
other parts of Europe. The materials employed in these 
goods were woolen yarns and threads of silk, silver and 
gold. In 1G07 Henry IV. of France established a fac- 
tory at the Louvre for the making of wall hangings and 
carpets. The carpeting made was called Turkey stitch 
(point de Turcjuii). In 1027 the carpet factory known as 
the Savonnerie was established in a building at Chaillot 
which had previously been used as a soap factory. 

In an ancient romance there is reference to carpets which 
were made at Limoges, France, in the twelfth century, 
and a hundred years later the making of carpets was the 
daily work of the monks in the convent of Lilbe, West- 
phalia, but these goods were embroidered, not woven. 
The mediaeval church in Europe employed Oriental carpets 
and rugs before altars, in the choirs of cathedrals and at 
the feet of images. Carpets mounted on poles were carried 
in religious processions as canopies over the Host or great 
dignitaries of the church. The troubadours and jugglers 
gave their performances on carpets. Ladies ornamented 
their presence chambers with carpets and used them as 
hangings for private oratories. They were laid before 
thrones and at state banquets. In the pictures of the old 
Dutch school the table covers were frequently Oriental 
carpets, and they were largely used in this way in the 
Netherlands and other European countries. In the second 
edition of Bailey's Dictionarium Britannicum, published in 
1730, a carpet is defined as a table cover, while in the 



6 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

twenty-first edition, published in 1766, it is described as a 
covering for a table, passageway or floor. 

In the goods made at the Louvre and the Savonnerie in 
the early part of the eighteenth century the weavers used 
a combination of the loom and a shuttle needle, in which 
the latter formed the pattern, the general effect being 
similar to needlework. In 1664 Colbert, minister of Louis 
XIV., established a carpet factory at Beauvais. The car- 
pet workshops of the Louvre and the Savonnerie were re- 
organized by Louis XIV., and some of the most famous 
painters of his time were engaged to supply designs for 
the weavers. P^ few of the carpets of this period still sur- 
vive. Their ornamentation consists of large scrolls of 
acanthus leaf, combined with flowers and moldings en- 
circlmg groundwork of various colors or medallions repre- 
senting figures in cameos or landscapes. The Gobelins 
Museum has a carpet of the time of Louis XII. It bears on 
its face a representation of that king, his queen, Anne of 
Austria, and their two children. 

A large proportion of the workmen employed in the 
French factories were of Flemish birth or descent, and 
Protestants; while among the French themselves, under 
the protection of the Edict of Nantes, the number of 
Protestants had greatly increased, especially in the 
class of skilled artisans. The revocation of the edict 
in 1685 resulted in the flight of many thousands of these 
workmen from France to countries where they were not 
liable to persecution on account of their religious faith. 
Flanders, Holland and England received many of these 
fugitives. 

Flanders was the first country in Europe to engage in 
the weaving of carpeting on looms of a distinctly European 
pattern, as compared with the primitive apparatus used by 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 7 

the (3riental weavers. Brussels carpeting was a promi- 
nent product of Flemish looms, as was also a kind of 
velvet pile carpets, also woven entirely, the pattern being 
brought out by the shortening of the weft threads and the 
interlacing of the warp quite across the web. 




^^(?- 



CHAPTER II. 



k 




_^^ C.ARi'Kr Maki.n<; i\ (ikKAT Bkitai.n. 

L^jfK^s early as the reign of Edward III. a 
number of Flemish weavers settled at 
Bristol, England, and began the manu- 
facture of a floor covering which became 
known as Bristol carpet. It was similar 
to the Scotch or Kidderminster carpeting 
of a slightly later date. 

In the reign of Henry VIII. an imsuccessful attempt to 
manufacture carpets was made by William Sheldon, and 
under James I., who took much interest in the enter- 
prise, a factory was established at Mortlake, in Surrey, 
for the manufacture of carpeting and tapestry; but the 
amount of goods produced was small, and the English 
carpet industry did not become of any material impor- 
tance until ]<;S5, wlicn the French and Flemish weavers 
were forced to flee from France into England by the 
intolerant and short-sighted policy of Louis XIV. 

Before 1745 most English carpets were a mere interlacing 
of warp and weft of dift'erent colors, and dornix, a sort of 
linsey-woolsey cloth. In 1735 the manufacture of Kidder- 
minster carpeting had become a notable industry in the town 
of that name. In 1745 a carpet factory was established at 
Wilton, England, under the patronage of the Earl of 
Pembroke, who while traveling in France had noted the 
superiority of the French in this industry, and determined 
to introduce their methods into his own country. He 
accordingly imported a number of French weavers, and 



lU FLOOR COrER/NGS. 

secured a patent giving him the exchisive privilege of 
manufacturing these French carpets in England. They 
were made in one piece, either square or oblong, and had 
a cut pile like the Oriental goods. Four years later some 
Kidderminster manufacturers began to make carpets like 
these goods, then known as Wiltons. The patent granted 
for the Wilton goods, among other particulars, specified that 
the fabric was made with "bobbin and anchor," but the 
Kidderminster manufacturers erected looms on essentially 
the same principles, the only difference being the use of 
"bobbin and ball," instead of "bobbin and anchor." 

Besides the carpet factory at Wilton, the Earl of Pem- 
broke established also works for the manufacture of mar- 
ble cloth, which was a kind of floor cloth. 

In K50 a Capuchin friar began the manufacture of 
Savonnerie carpets at I'ulham, England. The enterprise 
was imsuccessful, but at London in the same year two 
workmen who had been employed in the Savonnerie fac- 
tory opened a workshop with the assistance of a Mr. 
Moore. A disagreement between the three men resulted 
in the starting of another shop by the two Frenchmen in 
partnership with one Parisot, and under the patronage of 
the Duke of Cumberland. Moore's factory continued in 
operation, and in 1757 he obtained a premium from the 
Society of Arts for the production of the best imitation 
of a Turkey carpet. 

The maniifacture of what is known as Brussels carpets 
probably originated in Flanders. The city of Brussels 
was noted for the product of these goods, and gave its 
name to them; but they were also made at several other 
places in Flanders. Their manufacture was introduced 
into England by John Broom, a Kidderminster weaver, 
who went to Brussels and afteward to Tournai to studv 



HISrOKV AXD MANUFACTURE. 



11 



the method of weaving the goods. At Totirnai, Broom 
found a man who understood the making of the Brussels 
loom, and the two men eml3arked together for England, 
where in i:41l they built and set in operation the first 
Brussels loom known in that country. Broom and his 
assistant were anxious to keep to themselves the secret of 
the Flemish loom, and no other man was allowed to enter 
their workshop; but they ran the loom by night as well as 
by day, and finallv a weaver in the employ of another 
Kidderminster carpet maker discovered the principle of 
the machine by climbing a ladder night after night and 
watching the two weavers while they thought they were 
unobserved. In a short time Kidderminster had a num- 
ber of Brussels looms in operation, and the town eventu- 
ally became the chief seat of this particular branch of the 
carpet industry. 

In the year 18:51 an invention of the highest importance 
to the carpet trade was accomplished by Richard Whytock, 
of Edinburgh, Scotland. ^Ir \Vhytock was the head of 
the firm of^ Richard Whytock & Co., manufacturer.s job- 
bers and retail dealers in carpeting, at Edinburgh. His 
experience as a retail dealer as well as a manufacturer had 
convinced him that a carpet differing from Ingrain, but 
cheaper than Brussels, would be in demand among that 
large portion of the public which could not afford the pur- 
chase of Brussels. Pondering upon this idea it occurred 
to him that a one-frame Brussels would be just the fabric 
desired because it would save all the usual waste of valu- 
able material in the weaving of Brussels, a loss entailed 
by the fact that in such weaving the greater part of the ' 
worsted went to the back of the fabric where it was prac- 
tically useless. With this idea in view he began m 1830 his 
experiments in the making of the new fabric. In his em- 



12 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



ploy at that time was William Sloane, who afterward came 
to New York and founded here the great carpet business 
now conducted under the style of W. & J. Sloane. Mr. 
Sloane procured for Mr. Whytock at Kilmarnock the 
first jars of coloring matter used in the dyeing of the 



fh'-^^\ 




o .- 



RICHARD WHYTOCK. 



yarn. Being now convinced that the idea was prac- 
ticable Mr. Whytock began to print a warp for weaving. 
As no patent had then been secured by liiin he desired to 
keep the invention private, and the first loom for the weav- 
ing of the fabric now known as Tapestry or Tapestry Brus- 
sels was set up in a stable loft in the rear of Wh vtock & Co. 's 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 13 

warehouse. The first entire piece of Velvet carpet made l 
was woven on this loom by William Sloane in the year 1831. 

Soon afterward Mr. Whytock obtained a patent for his 
invention, and an arrangement for the manufacture of the 
goods was made with the firm of Pardoe, Hooman & 
Co., of Kidderminster, England, who were then the 
largest manufacturers of Brussels carpeting in England. 
The}^ intended to manufacture the new fabric on an ex- 
tensive scale, and believed that they could improve Mr. 
Whytock's method of printing the yarn, but after experi- 
menting for a considerable time and incurring heavy 
expenses in consequence, they found the result unsatis- 
factory and finally abandoned the scheme in disgust. One 
or two other manufacturers attempted to make the goods, 
but were also imsuccessful. 

Although somewhat discouraged by these failures, Mr. 
Whytock kept a few looms running to supply the retail 
trade of his own firm, and the goods gradually gained a 
small degree of favor with the public, but it was not until 
they were introduced into the United States, in lS4o, that 
the demand hn them assumed large proportions. Soon 
afterward the English carpet manufacturing firm of John 
Crossley & Sons became the owners of the patent, and by 
making important improvements in the styles of designs 
and colorings and the (piality of the fabric speedily secured 
for it a wide popularity, especially in the United States. 

Mention has been made of the manufacture of imitation 
Turkey carpets in England at Moore's factory. About 
the middle of the eighteenth century similar goods were / 
produced by several English manufacturers, and especially 
at Axminster. The fabric soon became known as Ax- 
minster, but the demand for it has always been limited on 
account of its expensive character. It is made almost 



14 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

entirely of fine wool for both front and back, the wool 
being" knotted in tufts upon the warp threads by the hand 
of the workman, and held together by an invisible ground- 
work of linen thread. 

A desire to produce a fabric which, although less' ex- 
pensive, would preserve in fair measure the rich effect of 
a genuine Axminster prompted experiments by James 
Templeton, of Glasgow, and William (Juigley, of Paisley, 
Scotland, which resulted in ISoO in the invention of the 
carpeting called patent Axminster, Mr. Templeton was 
a member of the carpet manufacturing firm of James 
Templeton & Co., Glasgow, and John Templeton, a mem- 
ber of the firm, devised several improvements in the fab- 
ric, with which this house has ever since been most promi- 
nently identified. The salient feature of patent Axminster 
manufacture is a species of double weaving, by which 
strips of chenille employed as woof are arranged in accu- 
rately defined patterns, and a heavy velvet piled carpeting 
is produced with a hard linen back instead of the soft 
woolen back of the original Axminsters. The patented 
goods are cheaper, partly on account of the tise of steam 
power, but mainly because they require only about half 
the wool used in the real Axminster. 




CHAPTER III. 

The Carpet Industry in the United States. 

N this country 100 years ago the only woven 
covering for floors in use to any material 
extent was the domestic rag carpet. All 
other textile floor coverings were im- 
ported, for it was the policy of the British 
Government at that time to discourage 
and, in fact, repress every colonial industry which seemed 
to threaten competition with the British manufacturers at 
home. The carpeting imported consisted mainly of Scots 
or Kidderminster Ingrains. In ITGO J. Alexander & Co., 
whose store was on vSmith street, New York city, advertised 
in the New York Gazette tliat they had some Scots carpets 
for sale, and in the following year they announced through 
the same newspaper that they had added Turkey carpets 
to their stock. 

All imported carpeting was expensive in those days, 
and the Turkey hand-made goods w^ere especially dear. 
Such floor coverings were regarded as luxuries to be in- 
dulged in only by wealthy people, and the rich were then 
exceedingly small in number. Even such modest floor 
coverings as rag carpets were used only in the best room 
of the average house. For the bed chamber the bare 
floor or perhaps a bedside strip of rag carpet was thought 
good enough, and in houses where the kitchen was used 
also as a sitting room some thrifty housewives used no 
other floor covering than sand, which was strewn around, 
as is still the custom in some barrooms and country 



16 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

hotels. It was not uncommon for the Dutch housewife of 
New York or New Jersey to use sand even in the best 
room, and if of an aesthetic turn of mind she might gratify 
her decorative instincts by arranging the sand in designs 
simple or intricate. These home-made patterns had the 
great advantage of being open to change as often as might 
be desired. 

The first carpet factory operated in the United States 
was established at Philadelphia in 1791 by William Peter 
Sprague. Among Mr. Sprague's earliest products was an 
Axminster carpet in which the pattern represented the 
arms and achievements of the United States. This factory 
attracted the attention of Alexander Hamilton and induced 
him to recommend the imposition of a small duty on 
foreign carpeting as an encouragement for domestic manu- 
facturers. 

Soon after Mr. Sprague established his factory, several 
others were started on a small scale at Philadelphia and 
elsewhere for the manufacture of Ingrains and Venetians. 
In 180-4 Peter and Ebenezer vStowell opened a factory 
at Worcester, Mass., where they had in operation six 
looms of their own invention and construction. In 1810 
George W. Conradt, who came from AVurtemberg, Ger- 
many, entered into the manufacture of Ingrains at 
Frederick City, Md. Mr. Conradt's carpeting was made 
on the old barrel loom, which required a separate barrel 
for each pattern. The barrel was studded with pins some- 
what like the cylinder of a music box, and in rotating the 
pins acted on the warp threads. The application of the 
barrel machine to carpet weaving was first effected by 
Thomas Morton, a Scotch weaver, who afterward came to 
the United vStates and plied his trade in Connecticut. In 
1801 Jacquard invented the famous device which was des- 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURK 



17 



tined to supersede the barrel machine and all other methods 
of figure weaving, but the Jacquard attachment was not 
adapted for use on carpet looms until several years later. 
According to the census of 1810 only 9,984 yards of car- 
pet and coverlid were made in this country in that year. 
-fnl821 John and Nicholas Haight started a factory m 



New York city. Their mill superintendent was James W. 
Mitchell a Scotchman from Kilmarnock, which was then 
the principal seat of Ingrain manufacture m Scotland. In 
1825 Alexander Wright started a small carpet factory at 
Medwav Mass., but it was not successful, and m 18'.b the 
plant was bought by the Lowell Manufacturing Company, 
which had been organized in that year for the manufac- 
ture of cotton goods and carpeting at Lowell, Mass. I his 
was the beginning of the great carpet manufacturing 
business of the Lowell Company. 

The first adaptation of the Jacquard machine to carpet 
weaving in this country was nmde in the Lowell mill soon 
afterward by Claude Wilson, one of its employees. To 
accomplish this purpose it was necessary to make several 
changes in Jacquard's device, and since then some other 
and important modifications of it have been made to ren- 
der it more effective in the weaving of carpets. 

But the Lowell mill was destined to become the scene of 

a far more important event, one which marked a new 

epoch in the history of carpet manufacture, for it was m 

this mill that the great inventor, Erastus B. Bigelow, per- 

f fected the first loom ever made for weaving carpets by 

^ power not depending on human muscles. 

Bigelow began experimental work on his power Ingrain 
loom in 1839, but the invention was not perfected until 
about two years later. The experiments essential were 
costly and the inventor was a poor man, but he was for- 



18 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



tunate in enlisting the interest of George W. Lyman, 
then treasurer of the Lowell Company, and father of 
Arthur T. Lyman, who is its present treasurer. George 
Lyman, a sagacious, far-sighted business man, quickly 
recognized the importance of the invention, and, having 




ERASTUS B. BIGELOW. 



the courage of his convictions, he influenced the company 
to advance money for the making of the new looms, and 
also for the building of a large mill for them, several hun- 
dred thousand dollars being thus invested. 

The chief difficulty in the weaving of Ingrains on the 
power loom was in the matching of the figures. The 
hand-loom weaver accomplished this by a careful regula- 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 19 

tion of the tension of the warps and beat of the lay, but 
to make automatic machinery perform the work as well 
seemed impossible until Bigelow's inventive genius was 
directed to the task. His first loom turned out carpeting in 
every way superior to the fabric made by hand looms, but 
the product per day, was not much greater, the hand loom 
making 8 yards a day, while the automatic machine pro- 
duced only 4 more yards in the same time. Not being 
satisfied with this result, Mr. Bigelow continued his ex- 
periments, and in 1841 succeeded in increasing the product 
to from 25 to 27 yards a day. 

At this time carpet manufacture in the United States 
was an infant industry in every sense of that term. The 
factories then in operation in Massachusetts were seven in 
number. In Connecticut four were running; New York 
had eight; four were situated in New -Jersey. In Penn- 
sylvania there were five, all of which were in or near 
Philadelphia, and Maryland had one. The principal mills 
were: The Lowell Company's 150 looms; William H. 
McKnight's, Saxonville, Mass., 150 looms; Orrin Thomp- 
son's, at Thompson ville and Tariffville, Conn., 250 looms, 
and W. H. Chatham's, Philadelphia, IGO looms. Among 
the mills in operation were the first plants of several of 
the largest concerns now in the trade, including, besides 
the Lowell Company, those now known as the Hartford 
Carpet Company, Robert Beattie& Sons, the E. S. Higgins 
Carpet Company and McCallum & McCallum. The total 
number of looms in operation in 1841 did not much ex- 
ceed 1,500, and about 1,250 of them were used for In- 
grains, the others being devoted to Brussels, Damasks, 
Venetians or rugs. 

But the industry was soon to receive new and great 
impetus. In 1848 Mr. Bigelow turned his attention to the 



20 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

construction of a power loom for Brussels carpeting, and 
the invention was soon perfected, its salient features being 
adapted from a loom invented by Mr. Bigelow several 
years previous for the weaving of coach lace. But al- 
though the new Brussels loom was a success in operation, 
the inventor was unable to make satisfactory arrange- 
ments with any carpet manufacturer for its utilization, 
and he was finally obliged to invest some of his own 
money in the establishment of a Brussels mill at Clinton, 
Mass., which was the nucleus of the present great plant 
of the Bigelow Carpet Company. 

The manufacture of Tapestry Brussels and Velvet 
carpeting in the United States was first undertaken in 
184G by John Johnson, who came to this countr}' from 
Halifax, England, where he had been in the employ of John 
Crossley & Sons. Mr. Johnson opened a Tapestry mill at 
Newark, N. J., with twenty-five looms. The plant was 
subsequently removed to Troy, N. Y., and in 1855 was 
purchased by a company headed by Michael H. Simpson 
and removed to Roxbury, Mass. The Roxbury Carpet 
Company, as this concern was called, under the lead of 
President Simpson soon became and continues to be one 
of the most important factors in the Tapestry and Velvet 
trade of this country. 

The product of Johnson's Tapestry looms was about 5 
yards a day. In 1856 the product of each loom run by the 
Roxbury Carpet Company was 10 yards a day, and at 
present the average Tapestry loom turns out about 60 
yards a day, and a product of 65 yards is not unusual. 
The great increase in prodiiction was effected first by the 
application of Mr. Bigelow's invention for power weav- 
ing to the Tapestry loom, and later by various improve- 
ments in the wire motion and other features of the loom. 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



21 



Tn the vcar istc another invention of great i™P°"<-";';^ 
Tn the 5='" 1 for making Moqnette 

^r^rti^- ;ttf;,l. Ha,e,on Skinner, w.o was then 





HALCYON SKINNER. 



,„,,e ennpio. of Alexander S-^;f ^f J,;^ ^^.^rr 
TtT^ c" Clpar A.::«f -ent^ .ear. 
p"'™„f Mr S.^.;,'; who .val then making carpeting .n a 



22 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

factory at West Farms, N. Y., conceived the idea of weav- 
ing- Axminster or tufted carpets on a power loom. Hav- 
ing- recognized in Mr. Skinner a mechanic of far more than 
ordinary talent and originality, Mr. Smith employed him 
to de\dse the loom, and about a year later one was con- 
structed and patented. It proved unsatisfactory, but in 1860 
another was built and this was found to answer the purpose 
perfectly. But soon afterward the factory at West Farms 
was destroyed by fire, and although the new loom was 
saved it became necessary to build another mill, and in 
the meantime Mr. Smith's attention was directed to other 
interests. In isn4 he closed his factory at West Farms 
and opened one at Yonkers, N. Y., where he engaged at 
first in Ingrain manufacture and subsequently in the 
making of Tapestry Brussels on an extensive scale. Mr. 
Skinner continued in the employ of Mr. Smith as a 
mechanical expert, and during this time he invented im- 
portant improvements in Ingrain looms, and also in the 
machinery for Tapestry Brussels manufacture. In 1876, 
at the suggestion of Mr. Smith, he began work on a power 
loom intended for the weaving of Moquette carpeting, and 
in January, 1877, the first or ground patent for the loom 
was granted. Since then many other patents have been 
obtained for improvements on the original loom. Some 
of these changes were made by Halcyon vSkinner, and 
others were invented by his sons, Charles and A. L. Skin- 
ner. The ground patent for the Moquette loom expired 
January 17, 1894. Several later and important patents 
for improvements of the fabric and loom still survive, and 
are also controlled by the Alexander Smith & Sons Car- 
pet Company, but American " Axminsters," goods made on 
power looms and very closely related to the Moquette weave, 
are now produced by several other manufacturing concerns. 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 23 

Amono- n.ore recent improvements in carpet n^^"^;^^^^'" 
ture perhaps the most interesting is to be crech ted to 
James Dunlap, of Philadelphia, whose i^atented methcx^of 
printing Tapestrv carpeting in the cloth has solved a 
Troblem which many manufacturers had ^trngg^ed w^ 
in vain Tohn Bright, the English statesman and carpet 
TnuLtrLr, was'one of those ^^^ff-f^J^^^ 
ing and failed completely, a great deal of mone> being 
ost' in experiments. Thomas Crossley was more snccess- 
ful for his Electrotype carpeting, as it was called, was a 
marketable fabric. His mechanical ingenuity enabled 
Tn to ov r^^^^^ difficulties which had bafHed previous 
efforts in the same field, and in a factory established a 
Ellington, Conn., he produced for a year or two 1,000 
yards daily, all of which found a ready sale. But 
Lither he nor his brothers, with whom he was associated 
had much business ability, and the enterprise eventualh 
proved disastrous to all concerned m it. 

Mr Dunlap's invention was an improvement as^ com- 
pared with all previous ones for the purpose, m the fact 
that the coloring in the fabric extended entirely through 
Former devices for printing the cloth had failed to 
saturate the pile down to the roots, and consequently the 
color was rubbed off when the tips of the pile were sub- 
jected to ordinary wear and tear. Mr. Dunlap overcame 
h s defect by using a peculiar roller, which not only gave 
a superficial color but also held the dye in cells or depres- 
sions so that when the roller was applied to the carpeting 
under great pressure the coloring matter was forced down 
to the roots of the pile and thoroughly saturated them. 

Besides the inventions which have been mentioned many 
others have been highly important factors in the progress 
of the carpet industry in this country, but reference to 



24 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

them is postponed for the present. It is sufiQcient now to 
note that American ingenuity, enterprise and energy have 
never been exhibited more prominently and successfully in 
any industries than in the manufacture of carpeting. 
From the small beginning of hardly a hundred years ago 
the industry had attained in IS'JO a yearly product valued 
at about $50,000,000. The number of factories was 173, 
representing an aggregate capital of $38,208,842, and em- 
ploying 29,121 persons. These figures, which are from 
the census of 189(», do not include 854 factories or work- 
shops in which rag carpeting was made, the yearly prod- 
uct of this fabric being valued at $1,714,480. 



CHAPTER IV. 




Oriental Rt?(;s and Carpets. 

HE making of Oriental rugs is a simple but 
slow process, and although it seems 
easy, it is so only to Orientals them- 
selves, with fingers trained to deft, skill- 
ful manipulation and an inherited taste 
and ability for such work. The loom 
may be a few trunks of trees and poles bound together 
in primitive fashion. It is never more than a simple 
vertical frame, carrying on its upper part a beam con- 
taining the warp, which is kept stretched by a pole or 
rod passing through it. It is usually set up in a rough 
shed adjoining the house of the weaver, though sometimes 
in the open. 

The weavers, who are the women and girls of the 
household, sit before the loom and taking the threads 
of wool, previously prepared and sorted, attach them 
to the warp by a running knot. They then insert 
the weft for the back, press the knots home with 
a wooden comb, and level the pile with a pair of 
scissors. 

Generally each worker has a special piece of the pattern 
assigned to her. To make a carpet \y^ yards square six 
women are usually employed, being placed at a distance 
of 27 inches from one another. On an average each woman 
weaves daily a piece 8 to 10 inches long and 27 inches wide. 
When the work is made merely an avocation, as is so 
commonly the case, the weaver generally knows the pat- 




Fig. 13. 



Fig. n. 



HISTORY AXD MANUFACTURE. 



27 



tern by memory and is never at a loss for the right shade. 
Bu"in places like Oushak, where many weavers are eon en 
trated and have made the work a voeat.on, -w pattern 
are sometimes required, and then an espee.ally expert 
weaver is employed in making a pattern carpet from a 
Sgn nd from'this the women work as nsual copymg 
the L;ign from the back of the pattern carpet by count- 

'"S^It'ris taken in the preparation of the wool and 
dyes for the choice grades of rugs. Sheep having especially 




Fig. IH- 



good wool are kept housed, and often have hnen coverings 
sewn upon them in order that the wool may remain clean 
and also because wool treated in this way becomes satu- 
rated with animal fat, which makes it soft and glossy. 
Goafs hair is used to some extent, as there are certam 
breeds of goats that have supple, glossy hair. Camels 
hair is also employed. Silk is rarely used, and scarcely 
ever in Western Asia. Most of the silk rugs m existence 
are of antique manufacture. But in the finest rugs silk 
is sometimes used even in the warp threads, appearing 
at the end to form the fringe. The wool used is alwa> . 
unbleached and the fat is allowed to remain m it. It is 



28 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



difficult to dye such greasy wool, but the Orientals do not 
desire sharp, well defined colors. It is indeed the custom 
to leave the remains of dyes in the vats or kettles, as this 
constant blending of colors gives the soft, broken tints 
which are characteristic of Oriental rugs. Another point 




ORIENTAL CARPET LOOM. 



to be borne in mind is that such goods are always dirty. 
A thorough cleansing will never fail to make the colors 
brighter and clearer. 

The colors most used are indigo, porcelain blue, green, 
yellow, orange, crimson and rose red. The best wearing 
colors are the blues, reds and yellows, because they im- 
prove with age, while the others are liable to deteriorate. 



HISTORY AND MANrFACTi'RE. 



29 



The dyes used are supposed to be vegetable, but of late 
years aniline colors have been used largely by some un- 
scrupulous weavers. Aniline colors are handsome at first, 
but change finally into an ugly gray. 

In all Oriental designs for rugs or other textile fabrics 
certain figures are especially prominent, either in their 








GHIORDES RUG. 



ANTIQUE MELES RUG. 



simplest forms or in combination with others. The palm 
in various modifications is a favorite "motive." Figures 
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the cuts shown herewith, are all based 
upon the palm. Fig. 1 , which is the most elaborate, is found 
frequently in the antique Persian rugs and carpets. Fig. 2 
is common in several Oriental makes. Fig. 3 isan old Per- 
sian motive. Fig. 4 is used freely in the modern Ferahan 



30 



FLOOR COVF.RIXGS. 



and Kurdistan carpets. Fig. 5 shows a palm and geometri- 
cal figure found in the rugs of the Caucasus. Figs. 6 and 7 
are blendings of palm and floral motives seen in many Per- 
sian carpets. Figs. 8 and U, the rosette, Fig. 10, and the 
pomegranate, Fig. 11, are prominent in several varieties 
of Oriental rugs. The lozenge, Fig. 12, is the charac- 




SUMAC RUG. 



teristic motive in the rugs made by the nomads of Central 
Asia. Fig. 13 is Persian. The borders shown in Figs. 
14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are well-known Oriental types, but 
Fig. 18 is usually found only in Herati carpets or rugs. 

In former times the dift'erences between the rugs of the 
various weaving districts of the Orient were clearly 
marked, and a glance at the material, design or colorings 
of a rug would be sufficient to show at once the country, 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



31 



and in most instances the very district or province, from 

which it had come. 

But at the present day such details as texture or pattern 

are not always decisive in tracmg the ongm of a rug o 

,„odern manufacture, because m many of he Onen«a 

weaving districts the goods are made for the Western 

narlet! under the order and often under the supervision 




KIRMAN CARPET. 

of a European buyer, who allows no native ideas to inter- 
te with his own conception of a handsome and salable 
pattern But it should also be said that stich goods gen- 
era ly possess all the desirable features of an Oriental make 
wkhout the defects often found in those which are made 
by native weavers to suit themselves. 

Of course these remarks do not apply to rugs which aie 
really antique, or to modern goods manufactured in dis- 
tricts in w*ich the weavers are still exempt from the in- 



32 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



fluence of Western ideas, as in the Caucasus or among the 
nomad tribes. 

But while it is not always safe to be positive as to the 
exact birthplace of an Oriental rug, it is still true that 
each rug making country in the Orient has its particular 
kind of rug, the typical Turkish product, for example, 




A 



T f 



'■r^- 







SUMAC CARPET. 



being different from the Persian in both weave and 
pattern. 

Oriental carpets and rugs may be divided into four gen- 
eral classes — Turkish, Persian, Daghestan and Indian. 
Some experts would say that Indians could hardly be re- 
garded as a separate class. The Turkish goods are looser 
in texture than the Persians or Indians, but the length of 
the pile gives them thickness and durability. The de- 
signs are a mixture of arabescpies, moresc^ues, medallions 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



33 



and rosettes. The conventionalized flowers used in them 
are generally tulips, hyacinths and roses. The best known 
among Turkish rugs are called Oushaks, because they 
come from the province of that name. Among other 
prominent makes are the Ghiordes, Koula, Dimirdje, 
^'ouroke and Anatolians. 

In the Oushak goods the most usual colors are old gold, 
old red and cream, mingled with blue. The texture is 
thick and the designs are large, bold figures, as a rule. In 
Kirmans, which are a finer grade of Oushaks, the patterns 
are in Persian style, and the Ghiordes rugs also resemble 
Persians somewhat in designs and colorings. Koula pro- 
duces a specialty in all wool carpets of primitive make but 
excellent quality, and also an inferior kind of prayer rug 
in which are three parts of wool and one of hemp. The 
antique Ghiordes rugs were made in mosque designs, and 
rank among the finest Oriental goods. The rugs and car- 
pets now made in Ghiordes are very popular in the Euro- 
pean and American markets. They come in all sizes and 
in Turkish, Indian, Persian and other patterns. The 
Dimirdje rugs are similar to Ghiordes, but heavier. Meles 
rugs come in small sizes only and in peculiar brownish red 
effects. The centres are plain excepting a sort of mosque 
design, and the edges have a selvage like the Bokhara or 
Shiraz rugs. The pile is velvety and the wool used is very 
fine . Youroke rugs have a long pile and come in bright 
reds and blues with well covered grounds. 

The Sumac is woven more closely than the Oushak, and 
has no pile. The back is shaggy, and has long strands of 
wool left hanging loosely,' as in the Cashmere India shawls. 
For this reason Sumacs are often, but erroneously, called 
Cashmeres. The Sumac has a longer fringe than most 
other rugs, but this may be more or less worn away if the 



34 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

rug is old, and the strands of wool on the back are also 
liable to be worn off by years of use. The designs are 
conventional, and generally consist of several large figures 
in the centre on a background which is almost always a 
deep rich red, which in an old rug may turn to a soft shade 
of pink or red. Occasionally one sees a blue or yellow 
ground. The border almost invariably consists of four 
lines. The outer edge is 10 inches wide, the design being 
in black or dark blue on a red ground. Inside the red 
border is a white band with bits of red or blue. The 
centre and largest line of the border is usually a zigzag 
design on a black or brown ground. The inside line is 
white, like the line next to the outer edge. 

Under the name of Daghestan are included the makes 
of several districts in or near the Caucasus Mountains, and 
also some other rugs in which the patterns and fabric are 
somewhat similar. Like the Turkish goods, the Da- 
ghestans are of much coarser weave than the Persians, and 
the designs are composed of geometrical figures. Crooked- 
ness is another common feature, and many good patterns 
are spoiled by this defect. Daghestans are not high priced 
as a rule. They come frecjuently in long strips, and arc 
therefore well suited for halls, but the strips are liable to 
be curved or otherwise unsymmetrical, and even the small 
pieces are often much broader at one end than at the 
other. 

Among the makes which are frecpiently classed with 
Daghestans are Karabaghs, Kazaks, vShirvans, Cabistans, 
Sumacs and Guenges. Neither Karabaghs nor Kazaks 
ever come in carpet sizes. Khivas and Bokharas are not 
made in Daghestan or near it, but they are made in 
Russian territory, and in the Constantinople market they 
are often classed with the products of Daghestan or 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



35 



the Caucasus districts. Karabagh rugs have a silky woof 
and are closely sheared. The centres are light colored and 
the borders are often of camel's hair. Cabistan is the 
name used for Daghestans when the goods are made in 

carpet sizes. 

Fine Karabaghs are remarkable for beautiful combma- 
tions of colors, especially in the blending of reds, olives 



^^■-.^Vf:'. 







CAMEL'S HAIR CARPET 



and blues. The nap is generally heavy and very glossy, 
and the designs, although characterized by large figures, 
are usually artistic as well as striking. 

The coloring usually seen in antique and modern Da- 
ghestans is various shades of red, blue, yellow and white. 
The red changes with age to a beautiful pink or rose. 
The blue and yellow become richer or mellower as they 
o-row older, and the white turns to ivory. A Daghestan 



36 



FLOOR COl'ERINGS. 



rug always has a fringe on one or both ends, the warp bein.t;- 
carried out to make it, but a Kazak, besides being heavier 
than a Daghestan, has no fringe, the warp being twisted 
into a heavy cord or braid. This twisting draws the ends 
of the rug and makes it crooked. The colors of the 
Kazaks and Daghestans are generally the same, but white 
grounds are common in the latter and rare in Kazaks. 

The Bokhara and Afghan rugs, although so often classed 
with Daghestans, differ from them in several respects. 




KARABAGH CARPET. 

The Afghans are always prayer rugs, and are as a 
rule softer in color than the Bokharas. The dominant 
color in both Afghans and Bokharas is red of various 
shades. The design is generally an arrangement of 
geometrical figures in lines running from end to end of 
the rug, and leaving only a few inches around the edges 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



37 



for what is called the border. The figiires are squared off 
with a fine black line running each way through the cen- 
tre, and between the spaces are httle figures in various 
of white, blue, green .)r yellow. Ihe l)order. 



tones 



when it occurs at all, is made by two narrow rows of 




INDIAN CARPET. 



geometrical figures, like those in the centre of the rug, 
but much smaller. When tnade in sizes as large as 6x9 
feet or larger the goods are called Khivas. 

Persia has furnished the oldest and finest examples of 



38 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

Oriental floor coverings. Among the best known makes 
classed as Persian are the Shirvan, Sennah, Kirman, 
Mossul, Cashmere or Soumac, Shiraz, Ferehan, Herati, 
Teheran, Khorassan, Kurdistan, Heraz, Khivas, Serebend, 
Djorzan, Savelan, Hamedan and Sedjades. 

The Ferehan goods are made in both rugs and carpet 
sizes, in small, chintz designs, with dark blue grounds 
and reddish borders. They are not expensive and are 
well suited for dining reoms or libraries. 

Most genuine Shiraz rugs are antique and are found in 
small sizes only. They are of closer weave than the 
Ferehans, and are much more varied in colorings. 

Savelans resemble Ferehans, but are of finer weave. 
They come in large, bold designs and in a wide range of 
colorings. Most of the weavers of Savelans are under the 
control of European firms, and therefore any designs or 
colorings required can be supplied. 

Cashmeres or vSoumacs are often classed with the makes 
of the Caucasus, and a rug called Cashmere is also made 
in India. The Cashmere is woven without a woof and in 
large medallion designs. The ground is generally dark 
red. The antique specimens have admirable colorings, 
but the modern goods are often crude in this respect. A 
characteristic of many Cashmere rug designs is a figure 
representing an obelisk. 

Hamedans rank among the least expensive of Persian 
makes, but they are both durable and handsome. They 
resemble the Heraz in pattern, having medallion centres, 
with conventional floral treatment, and borders in which 
the designs are also floral. 

Sedjades, Kirmans and Sennahs rank among the 
choicest products of the Oriental looms. The Sedjades are 
largely used for wall hangings. Sennahs are woven closely 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 39 

and have a short, silky pile of goat hair. The colorings 
are delicate opaline shades, suggesting sapphire, gold and 
rich ivory. The borders are generally in mosaic designs. 
These rugs are rarely found larger than 5x7 feet. 

The weave of the Kirman rugs is especially close and 
fine. The pile is as lustrous as silk, especially in the 
antique specimens. The old gold and ivory grounds, 






S-'E3KJ 



f'^SiiJiiiML li.. TO^'iji BUi?"**-^*' »jfi^*S™»i!«^3 



^^g ^aJP ^^^gaW^ i i l l fMrie Mitmit ;«K«iM JM>«% aKa-Mt »*■ »« »* '"'^^ 









omac, 3«» »«« ■3i»Hitt : 






TURKOMAN CARPET. 

characteristic of many of these rugs, are beautiful 
specimens of Oriental coloring. 

Kurdistan rugs are closely woven, have a short, velvety 
pile, and are somewhat subdued in colorings. 

Khorassans are of fine texture, and the floral designs, 
which are much used in them, are less conventional in treat- 
ment than is the case with most other Oriental patterns, 

Khivas or Bokharas are made of thick fine wool, woven 



40 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

very closely, and rank among the finest rugs made in the 
Orient. They come generally in two styles of designs, one 
l)eing known as the round and the other as the temple. 
The ground is usually red, in various tints. 

The rugs called Ivelems are made in several provinces 
of Persia. They have patterns which are the same on both 
sides, and being of light and flexible texture they are used 
for portieres and table and sofa covers, as well as for floor 
coverings. The designs are good and the colorings are 
brilliant. 

The Namads or felt carpets of Persia are made by digging 
out a space in the earth as large and as deep as the size 
and thickness required for the carpet, and then filling the 
space with hair, which is beaten with mallets until it be- 
comes a cohesive mass. A design of colored threads is 
beaten into the upper surface. The large size and weight 
of these carpets render them undesirable for export. 

The special features of Persian designs are coiling tendril 
work, with indented leaf and palmetto-like blossom. These 
designs are often found in combination with figures of ani- 
mals, flowering plants and trees. 

The leading makes of East Indian carpets are the Push- 
meina, Punjaub, Maharajah, Cabul, Cashmere, Candahar, 
Agra, Alirzapore, Amrister, Juipore and Marzuliptan. 

The Pushmeina rugs are made of the finest wool, closely 
woven, and are both rare and expensive. The Agras are 
notable for heaviness, rigidity and stift'ness. Rug making 
is carried on to a considerable extent in the jails of India, 
this kind of work being found well suited for the convicts 
of that country. There are also several large and success- 
ful factories controlled by foreign firms, but the industry 
has lost the prominence it enjoyed in the past. 




CHAPTER V. 

Savonnekik and Aubusson Carpets. 

^v- Ml, French Savonnerie carpets are ^voven on 
high warp tapestry looms in the same fac- 
tory at Paris in which the Gobehn tapes- 
tries are made; but the method of weav- 
ing them differs entirely from that em- 
ployed in the making of Gobelin tapes- 
tries Savonnerie carpets are, properly speaking velvets^ 
The' warp is wound vertically on two cyhnders, and 
: ranged as in the tapestry loom, but the worsted th..ads 
composing the woof, which are to form the surface of the 
ca pet, are fastened by a double knot on two threads o 
the w^rp, which is of wool and double, comb.mng Uselt 
with the threads of the velvety surtace, and also w.th a 
warp and weft, which do not appear on the outsule Ihe 
weaver while at his work, sees the right s:de of the fabnc, 
not the other, as in the weaving of Gobelin tapestry 

To make the knot he takes a shuttle, separates with h:s 
left hand the thread of the warp on which he is to begin 
and draws it toward him; he then passes behind i the 
shuttle and the worsted thread, which he holds with h.s 
right hand, and then bringing forward the next thread of 
the warp makes a running knot around it, which he tight 
ens Between these two shoots the wool forms on the 
front of the warp a ring having a diameter in accordance 
with the height of the pile. The weaver then intersects 
the threads of the warp with another hempen thread, form- 
ing the weft. To do this he advances the threads which 



42 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

are behind, passes the woof between the two rows of 
threads and allows those from the back to resume their 
former place. In this manner each of the knots is, as it 
were, linked together. The knots and hempen threads are 
then struck with the comb and forced inside the fabric so 
as to be invisible. Finally the carpet is clipped or shaved, 
this being necessary on account of the unequal length of 
the ends of wool left in cutting the loops of the pile. The 
clipping process requires much precision on the part of 
the workman and has an important bearing on the appear- 
ance of the carpet. 

As Savonnerie carpets are larger than most pieces of 
Gobelin tapestry, the looms in which they are made are 
also larger, and allow several weavers to work on a carpet 
at the same time. 

Aubusson carpets are made at the well-known tapestry 
factory at Aubusson, France. Only low warp looms are 
employed in this factory, while at the Gobelins only higli 
warp looms are used. The Aubusson carpets differ from 
the tapestries of the same factory mainly in being of 
coarser and thinner v/eave. 

In the low warp loom the cylinders, which are placed 
horizontally, are inserted in two wooden checks, which 
are supported by uprights. Around one of these cylinders 
is placed the warp, and the web, as it progresses, is rolled 
on the second cylinder. Two treadles are used to raise 
alternately each leaf of the warp. The workman seated 
on a bench placed in front of the loom, with his feet rest- 
ing on the treadles, separates with his fingers the threads 
of the warp which he requires, and passes between the two 
leaves of the warp a broach, so called, which is mounted 
with wool. He regulates the courses with a reed and 
presses them down with a comb of wood or ivory. 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 43 

In making the body the workman weaves the ground 
until he reaches the point where the figure begins. Hav- 
ing the design before him, he then inserts the yarns 
which go to make the figure, these yarns being hung near 
iiim so that he can take up each color as required. There 
are no repeats in an Aubusson centre design, the char- 
acteristic feature of such patterns being a medallion. 

Savonnerie and Aubusson carpets being hand made and 
ot fine material, rank among the most expensive of floor 
coverings. The demand for them is comparatively small, 
especially in the United States, where a heavy import duty 
is added to the high cost of manufacture. 







CHAPTER VI. 

Hand Made and Chenille Axminsters. ' 

LD-srvLE hand made Axminsters were first 
manufactured by Thomas Whitty, who es- 
tabHshed a factory for the purpose at 
Axminster, England, in 1755. When Mr. 
Whitty failed in business some years later 
the industry was transferred to Wilton, 
where a factory for the manvifacture of the goods is still 
in operation. 

In 1833 James Templetoa, a manufacturer of chenille 
shawls at Paisley, Scotland, conceived the idea that the 
process of making these shawls might be applied in the 
manufacture of Axminster carpets, and this was the origin 
of the Templeton Chenille Axminsters, which are now 
produced in the factory of Templeton & Co., Glasgow, 
Scotland. This firm are also extensive manufacturers of 
machine made Axminsters. 

In the weaving of the old-fashioned hand made Axmin- 
sters the carpet is made in one piece on a loom which con- 
sists substantially of a large wooden roller or winch, about 
% feet G inches in diameter and some 20 feet long, pinned 
at the ends to two uprights. These uprights are joined 
together by a beam some 4 or 5 feet above the roller, and 
of course parallel to it. The long warp threads of the 
carpet are passed over this beam and separated from one 
another by little pins or studs in the beam. The strong 
linen threads comprising this warp are fixed to the roller 
at one end, the other end being also secured. 



46 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

The girls who do the weaving sit beside one another 
on a long bench in front of the loom, each girl having a 
certain width of carpet to weave. She has first to fix the 
pile to the warp strands, and then to weave the strands 
into a solid backing. 

Beside her, so that her left hand can reach them, hang 
a number of short lengths of wool of various colors. In 
front of her is pinned the colored paper pattern which she 
is to reproduce in the carpet. Guided by her pattern she 
takes the appropriate piece of wool, ties it tightly on to 
the warp strand, and then, with a pair of scissors, snips 
off the two ends of the knot within about an inch of the 
strand. In this way the two woolen tufts are left standing 
out from the warp, and by placing a succession of them 
side by side the thick pile of the carpet is gradually built 
up. When one row of tufts is completed, a shuttle carry- 
ing strong threads is passed once backward and once for- 
ward between the strands, thus interweaving warp and 
tufts. Then comes another row of tufts, and the passing 
of the shuttle as before, and so on until the carpet is 
finished. Each tuft of the pile goes through to the very 
back of the carpet, so that real Axminster cannot become 
threadbare until it is worn entirely through. 

The process of manufacture is slow, and the thick, heavy 
pile calls for a great amount of wool; consequently real 
Axminster carpets are extremely expensive. The demand 
for them, as with Aubusson and vSavonnerie carpets, 
comes from quarters where more importance is attached 
to quality than to price — large and fashionable hotels, 
club houses, royal palaces, and houses of the rich. The 
floor coverings known as Berlin carpets are similar to 
Axminsters. They are made in Germany, and also at a 
factory in Morrisania, New York city. 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 47 

In the machine made chenille Axminsters, the chenille 
is first woven so as to form a double fringe of colored yarn 
with a fine thread running along the centre to keep the 
thread lengths of wool taut. This fabric is then cut into 
strips, each of which is bound into a V-shape, so that the 
double fringe becomes a series of thick tufts of wool side 
by side and firmly held together by the binding thread. 
This chenille is then ready to serve as the weft of the 
carpet fabric, being laid across the warp threads and woven 
into place in the loom, a hand loom being used for all 
chenille Axminsters wider than 27 inches. 







CHAPTER VU. 

Body Brussels and Wiltons. 

■^ ODY Brussels carpeting consists of a worst- 
ed yarn built upon a linen or cotton chain, 
and a linen weft. The worsted warp which 
forms the face of the carpet is wound on 
reeb or bobbins arranged on large hori- 
zontal frames, which are placed one above 
the other in the rear of the loom. Each 
reel supplies one thread of worsted to the loom, and as 
there are 200 threads in the width of a Brussels carpet 
(27 inches), there are necessarily 260 reels on each frame. 
The loops which appear on the face of the fabric are 
made by the insertion of wires when the worsted warp has 
been raised by the operation of the Jacquard. These wires 
are withdrawn and inserted again at regular intervals as 
the weaving proceeds. The warp from each frame is 
drawn in a continuous web into the loom, and the Jacquard 
attachment above the looms controls every separate strand 
of the 1,000 to 1,500 which are being fed into the loom 
from all the frames. Each yarn is raised into the face of 
the carpet or dropped into the body according to the pat- 
tern on the Jacquard. 

A Brussels carpet is called 5 frame when it is woven 
from five of the frames referred to, and if but four are 
used it is termed a 4 frame Brussels. It is obvious that 
if each of the frames is run with its full warp a 5 frame 
carpet will contain 25 per cent, more wool than a 4 frame. 
The number of frames used never exceeds six, and if 



50 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



each contributed but a single color to the warp the greatest 
number of colors possible would be six. But some Body 
Brussels contain as many as twenty-five or thirty colors 




this variety being obtained by " planting " warps of differ- 
ent colors on the same frame. But it is evident that the 
number of colors in any perfectly straight line running 
lengthwise in the carpet cannot be greater than the actual 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 51 

number of frames. Modifications of color lengthwise can 
be obtained only by dropping the warp of one frame and 
picking up the corresponding warp of another. 

If a color— as, for example, blue— appears only in spots 
or in small masses of any kind, and these are separated 
from each other by some distance in the width of the car- 
pet, it is then obvious that this color docs not go all over; 
but if certain colors recur constantly throughout the entire 
width of the fabric, then the number of these will show how 
many frames or thicknesses of worsted are in the carpet. 
In the diagram presented herewith, which represents a 
ruled paper drawing of a six color, four frame Brussels car- 
pet, the diagonal lines indicate one color, the dots 
another, the vertical Unes another, the horizontal lines 
another', the white spaces another and the black another, 
while by a glance at the gamut a it will be seen that but 
four thicknesses of yarns are necessary for weaving this 
pattern, the yarns being of six colors. Frames 1 and 2, 
counting from the top, are "planted"; that is, each of 
them contains more than one color, and the first three 
frames are also imperfect. Thus in the top frame one stitch 
out of every ten is omitted, or twenty-six in the entire 
width of 2G0 threads; in the next frame four are saved out 
of every ten, or 104 in the width, and in the third frame 
one is saved out of every ten, or twenty-six in the width. 
The fourth frame alone is complete. 

Wilton carpets are woven just as Brussels are, excepting 
that the wires used in making Wiltons have a sharp blade 
attached, and so arranged that when they are drawn out 
the blades cut the loops open, and thus form a plush sur- 
face. The pile of a Wilton carpet is higher than the loops 
of a Brussels, about 50 per rent, more yarn being used tor 
Wiltons. 



CHAPTER Vril. 
Tapestry-Brussels and Velvet Carpeting. 

: salient feature of the manufacture of 
Tapestry or Tapestry Brussels, and Velvet 
carpeting is the printing of the pattern 
on the yarn warp, thread by thread, be- 
fore the carpet itself is woven on the 
loom. The pattern is drawn and colored 

on rule paper, just as the Body Brussels 

pattern is laid out. Some years ago it was 

customary to elongate the drawing in order 

to allow for the loops on the surface of 

the finished fabric, but this method is not 




II III II 




1111 111 

IIJUIII 



III f III 



iiiii n.i 



mi 

I I II I. J 



ilflflBiniflinBBnni iiecessary 

Next 
conies the 
first distinc- 
tive step in 
Tapestry 
making, 
which is the fig. i. 

cutting of 

the rule paper pattern 
D S S i i lengthwise into several ob- 
long strips, one of which 
FIG. 2. . , . ^. 

IS shown m Fig. 1 of the 

engravings presented herewith. This strip represents 
consecutive threads which run lengthwise through the 
entire piece of carpet, and for the sake of clearness in this 



54 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 




FIG. 3. 



description, these strips are shown again, separated from 

each other as in Fig. 2 The number of warp threads in 

a width (27 inches) of Tapestry carpeting varies from 

about 180 in the low grades to 21G 
in ten wire goods. Each strip of 
pattern paper is placed on an oblong 
board, and when the dyeing of the 
threads represented on it is to 
begin the board is taken to the 
printing drum. These drums vary 

in diameter in accordance with the length of the pattern, 

or sometimes the number of repeats in it. The drum is 

first covered with an 

oil cloth, which is in 

turn covered with 

white yarn, wound 

around it as clo.sely 

as the thread on an 

ordinary reel of cot- 
ton. The drum re- 
volves on its axis and 

the man who guides 

its movement has 

hung before him for 

reference one of the 

oblong strips of the 

pattern previously 

mentioned. Each of 

the various threads 

represented on the 

strip is designated by 

a number, and every 

color which appears piq_ ^_ 




HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



5.') 



in the pattern has also a number. The drum also bears 
near its edge a series of numbers and is provided with 
a ratchet arrangement which enables the operator to guide 
the revolution of the drum in accordance with the ruled 
squares of color upon the design. Underneath the drum 
is a small carriage running on rails, and in this carriage, 
which contains a quantity of dye, a wheel revolves as 
shown in Fig. 3, the top of the wheel being just high 
enough to touch the thread on the drum, and thus cover 
it with dye. The printer, referring to his pattern, sees 
the color needed for, say, the first square in it, and the 
carriage is then passed along the rails, so that the color 
required is printed or ruled across the thread. Dur- 
ing this operation the drum is held in place by the 
ratchets, its revolution and the movem-ent of the carriage 
beneath being regulated by the printer's comparison of the 
index on the drum with the numbers on the print board. 

The width of the dyed portion of the thread does not 
correspond exactly with the square or squares of the pat- 
tern, some allowance being 
made for the fact that the fabric 
will be woven in loops like 
Body Brussels. As has been 
said, the loops were formerly 
provided for by elongating the 
design, but this had disadvan- 
tages, and most manufacturers 
now make the movement of the 
drum answer instead, some al- 
lowance being also made for 
the stretching of the yarn when the loops are formed. Fig. 
4 represents the drum with the yarn wound around it, 
the dark stripes showing where the dye has been apphed. 





i 


i^ 




g 






^ 
















oollh 






'i 




^ 


QjSic: 


["S&trifO' 


Tl' ' 


g 


§ 


!i^l 




t vmfS^ 












1 ' l3E 






i " 1 ii' 








tS 


m 


i 


Sw^^fil 






\hk 




^^^ 




'S^S 






SiE'S 




m 


X J 


1 r M 


■ Ml 




■■iTTj .i.i-t-l *. J 



FIG. 5. 



56 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

The printing of the yarn on the drum is continued in the 
way described until all the colors needed for the particular 
thread which covers it have been applied. It was formerly 
the custom for the printer to scrape the yarn with his 
fingers to remove superfluous dye, but this operation is 
now performed much better by a mechanical scraping de- 
vice, in which a rubber substitute for a finger follows the 
dyeing wheel in its passage across the thread. 

The dyed yarn, all of which forms but a single thread 
in a piece of carpeting, is then removed from the drum to 
the steaming room, where it remains long enough to fix 
the colors firmly, and is then allowed to dry. From the 
drying room it passes to the reeling machine, which winds 
it on a spool, and it is then ready for the setters, whose 
work consists in setting side by side all the pattern warp 
threads which are to appear in the carpet when it is 
finished. At one end of the setting machine are arranged 
the reels or bobbins of thread, every thread in the width 
of the carpet being wound on its particular bobbin, the 
number of bobbins running of course from 180 to 21(5. The 
thread on each bobbin is pulled out and fastened to a roller 
at the other end of the machine. The roller is then run 
out to a certain length, the threads being thus drawn taut 
side by side, like the strings of a piano, but touching each 
other. Two girls, one standing at each side of the ma- 
chine, then take each thread separately and move it to its 
proper place, as it appears in a somewhat elongated copy 
of the pattern, which is placed on the machine underneath 
the threads. As a certain portion of the threads is passed 
it is wound on the roller at the other end, and when the 
setting process is completed the yarn on this roller is ready 
to be woven in the loom. Fig. 5 shows the pattern as it 
appears in the finished carpet. 



HIS TORY A ND MA N UFA CTURE. 57 

Tapestry carpeting has a backing of jute yarn, a cotton 
chain, and a hnen or cotton weft, which serves as a binding 
thread for the loops, these being made over wires as in the 
weaving of Body Brussels. Until recently all Tapestry 
looms have been subject to a serious defect, in the liability 
of the printed warp to run unevenly in relation to the 
ground warp. When this trouble occurs the successive 
" blocks " of the pattern are too long or short, and do not 
register accurately with successive portions of the warp 
strands so as to secure uniformity in the appearance of 
breadths, and the matching of the pattern in successive 
breadths when placed side by side. This difficulty has 
been overcome by a recent invention which insures the 
accurate registry of the pattern blocks with the other 
portions of the body fabric, any irregularity which occurs 
being corrected by the automatic action of an ingenious 
mechanism by which the tension on the warp yarns is 
increased or diminished as may be necessary. This 
device not only removes the danger of weaving unmatch- 
able goods, but also enables one operative to run two 
looms instead of one, thus doubling or almost doubling the 
capacity of the Tapestry loom. 

Velvet carpeting is the same as Tapestry Brussels, ex- 
cepting that the wire used in the weaving has a knife-like 
edge which cuts open the loops as it is withdrawn and 
forms a pile surface as in Wilton carpeting. Velvet car- 
pets also resemble Wiltons in the fact that more yarn is 
used for the pile than is considered necessary when the 
loops are not to be cut as in Body Brussels. 



%. 



* .>& 






CHAPTER IX. 
Printed Tapestry Carpeting. 

^HE making- of Tapestry Brussels by the method 
which has been described enables the manu- 
facturer to produce handsome carpeting at a 
low cost, but the dyeing of the yarn is a 
delicate operation and the process of manufacture 
throughout requires much skill and care and the 
investment of a large amount of capital. For these and 
other reasons many attempts have been made to simplify 
the process and to reduce still further the cost of manu- 
facture, but among all the improvements put forward in 
this line of invention dviring the past forty years or more, 
the conception of James Dunlap, of Philadelphia, has 
proved the most successful. 

In the process patented by Mr. Dunlap in 1S91 the 
yarns are woven undyed, or dyed of a uniform basic color 
or tone, and they are woven like a Tapestry or Velvet 
carpet, that is, without a Jacquard machine. After the 
fabric is woven, with the pile cut or uncut, as desired, it is 
submitted to the action of a color printing machine some- 
what similar to that which is used in calico printing, in 
which the fabric, is w^und on a large pressure drum or 
roller, and pattern rollers, one for each color and engraved 
to produce the design desired, revolve in contact with the 
face of the undyed carpet. 

The idea of impressing a design upon an undyed carpet 
by means of block or roller printing devices was not anew 
one, but Mr. Dunlap's method of carrying it out was 
orighial and overcame an obstacle which had baffled all 



60 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

previous inventors. This difficulty was caused by the fact 
that a pile carpet, cut or uncut, is a comparatively soft, 
yielding mass, which, to be perfectly dyed, must receive 
the color not only on the tips of the pile, but down to the 
very roots and even into the back. Moreover, the color 
must be so applied that the yielding or wearing of the pile 
in use will not distort the pattern. Great pressure must 
be employed to force the color into and through the fabric, 
and the dyeing matter must be used in considerable quan- 
tity, but not so as to fly or run laterally in the pile beyond 
the exact limits of the particular figure of the pattern 
being printed at that point. 

In Mr. Dunlap's process the carpet fabric, after being 
woven undyed in an ordinary Tapestry loom, is prepared 
for the reception of the dyes by dampening its surface 
with a mixture of oil, vitriol and other ingredients. The 
fabric is then dried by running it over hot cylinders. For 
printing the carpet, the designs engraved upon the print- 
ing rollers are cut to a certain depth, and then further and 
deeper cuts are made in the form of cells or cups evenly 
distributed over the entire figure. These cups receive 
the heads of the pile and the great pressure with which 
the roller is applied forces the color into their very roots. 
After passing the fabric through the rollers steam is 
forced into and through it from both sides, in order to 
drive the dye into it and at the same time to raise the 
pile, which has been forced down by the pressure of the 
printing roller. 

In June, 1896, Mr. Dunlap obtained an additional patent 
for certain improvements on his original process, by which 
the various steps in it which have been described are per- 
formed continuously and automatically, instead of being 
more or less independent of each other. This improve- 



HISTOR V AND MANUFACTURE. 61 

ment was accomplished by embracing in a single structure 
a printing mechanism, a steam chamber, a starching ap- 
paratus, a drying chamber and means for operating auto- 
matically and in concert the various parts of the structure. 





CHAPTER X. 

MOQUETTES AND MACHINE MADE AxMlNSTERS. 

HE carpeting which first bore the name of Mo- 
. quette was practically the same as the W.lton 
fabric In the United States Moquette .s the 
name applied to a tufted pile machine-made 
carpeting first manufactured by Alexander 
Smith on a loom invented by Halcyon Skin- 
ner and patented in 1856. These American Mo- 
c^ ~ quettes are an imitation of a carpetmg hrst 
made at Nimes, France. The French g°°d^--; ™<»; °" 
a hand loon, only, but Halcyon Sknmer s >"-" J " _ 
dered it possible to make them on power oon,s and o e 
feet a great saving of the cost of manufacture. At the 
present time the name of Axnnnster .s also used to 
designate carpeting which is practically the sa,™ a 
Moquette, differing mainly in the nuntber of tu ts o, 
.,001 to the ,uch or n, the manner of astemng 
the tufts more or less firmly ,n the fabr.c. In the Skm 
ner Moquette loom the warp >s composed of «° P"' 
n^ounted on separate beams and -mpns.ng threads o, 
different grades of fineness, the warp of ™"^" ' ";^f ^^; 
imr under greater tension than the other so as to be kept 
rai-^^t as possible, that of the finer thread being under 
s:tension,'so as to be bent arot.nd the woolen p. le tute 
and the weft threads. The straight or coarse warp is sub 
d vided into two parts, one being called the tufting warp 
because the tufts are secured to it, and the other the body 
warp because it gives firmness .0 the fabric. The pile con- 



64 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

sists of a succession of the tufts of yarn referred to, ex- 
tending across the fabric, with the ends standing upward. 
To carry the yarns which form the tufts spools about as 
long as the width of the fabric are employed, the number of 
spools composing the series being equal to the number of 
ranges of tufts required to complete the pattern desired. 
The yarns are wound on each spool with such an arrange- 
ment of colors as may be required by the part of the figure 
supplied by that spool. The spools are mounted in suc- 
cession on the links of a pair of endless chains which move 
in unison and with a positive motion, to bring each spool 
in succession to the position for introducing one range of 
tufts into the fabric. The journals of the spools work in a 
frame which engages with the links of the chain by means 
of spring clips. 

In beginning the weaving, the mechanism of the loom 
detaches the first of the series of spools with its frame from 
the chains and carries it down in front of the lay just over 
the tufting warps. The tufting yarn is then grasped by a 
series of nippers, drawn out and carried around the pairs 
of tufting warps, these nippers being mechanical substitutes 
for the Oriental weaver's fingers in his hand loom. The 
heddles are then operated so as to hold the tufts in posi- 
tion while the nippers let go their hold and two steel blades 
then cut the tufting from the several parcels in the spools. 
The tufts are then woven into the body of the fabric, thus 
completing one row of tufts in the fabric. This operation 
is repeated for the next row and so on continuously. 

Since Halcyon Skinner's loom was first put into use 
many changes liave been made in both the mechanism of 
the loom and the fabric manufactured on it, but the essen- 
tial features of the weaving process remain as here de- 
scribed. 



CHAPTER XI. 




Smyrna Rugs. 

Smyrna rug is simply a chenille Axminster 
fabric with the wool distributed on both 
sides, instead of only on the face. The 
goods were at first a by-product of the 
factory of the Messrs. Templeton at Glas- 
gow. This firm were the original manu- 
facturers of the chenille Axminster car- 
peting, and from the waste chenille they 
made what they called an Afghan rug, 
which had a double instead of a single face. The goods 
were woven only in hit or miss or mottled patterns, and the 
Oriental and other effects now the prevailing styles in 
these rugs originated in this country. 

The double faced chenille fabric was first made by 
European manufacturers of shawls, and it was these 
shawls which suggested to carpet manufacturers the idea 
of making a floor covering of the same material. 

Robert Beattie & Sons were pioneers in the manufac- 
ture of Smyrna rugs in this country. They were perhaps 
the earliest manufacturers of them, and they were cer- 
tainly the first to make them in any considerable quantity. 
They made them at first by sewing together breadths of 
chenille carpeting, and sewing on a border, which was 
woven with separate corner pieces to avoid mitering. The 
goods were made in one size, 6x9 feet, and sold as " Turk- 
istan" carpets. Most of them were bought by Joseph 
Wild & Co., and it was this firm that suggested to the 



66 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

Messrs. Beattie the idea of reproducing Oriental patterns, 
a Ghiordes rug being selected as the first to be copied. 

Sheppard Knapp, of Sheppard Knapp & Co., believes 
that Job Pearson made the first piece of chenille carpet in 
this country. Mr. Knapp advised Pearson to put a border 
on the carpeting, and thus produce an imitation of an 
Oriental rug. Mr. Knapp was the first to advertise these 
goods as " Smyrnas," and at his suggestion application 
was made for a patent on them, but for some reason it was 
refused. 

Since the starting of the industry in this country, which 
was about twenty years ago, many important improve- 
ments have been made in the process of manufacture. In 
the factory of to-day the dyed yarij is first taken to the 
cop winding machine and wound on cops, which then go 
to the weft weaving room. The pattern which is to be 
reproduced in the weft is drawn and colored upon the de- 
sign paper in the usual manner, but is then cut into strips, 
which are called papers. Each strip is a double paper, 
each paper representing one shot in the setting loom. 

The operative at the weft weaving loom begins her 
work by placing one of these strips before her as her 
guide in throwing the shuttles containing the weft yarns. 
The warp yarn is composed of four cotton threads, but 
by the movement of a cam in the loom these are twisted 
in the weaving operation so as to make two double threads 
instead of four single ones. When the pattern on the first 
strip has been reproduced in the weft the weaver takes 
the strip which comes next in order in the design, and 
continues in this way until the entire pattern has been 
woven. The chenille, which during the weaving opera- 
tion has been wound on a beam, is then taken to the cut- 
ting machine, in which a number of small circular blades 



HIS TOR V A ND MA N UFA CTURE. 67 

fixed on a revolving cylinder come in contact with the 
chenille as it passes over another cylinder and cut it into 
narrow strips. As quickly as it is cut the twisted threads 
in each strip cause it to twist itself into the fur-like shape 
characteristic of chenille fabric. The strips after passing 
through the cutting machine are wound on cops, and are 
then ready for the setting loom, in which the warp is cot- 
ton thread and the chenille fur is the weft, with a shot of 
jute yarn between each strip as filling. From this loom 
it emerges in the form of rugs, the pattern on the design 
paper being exactly reproduced in the woven rug. From 
the loom the rug goes to the shearing machine, where the 
surface is made even, and it is then fringed and finished. 
The fringing operation formerly required a great deal of 
hand labor, but all or nearly all of this work is now done 
by machines. 




CHAPTER XII. 




Ingrain, Venetian and Wool Dutch Carpets. 

NGRAiN is a fabric composed of two webs or 
plies of cloth. 

In weaving Ingrain each ply has its par- 
ticular color, as, for instance, a two-ply car- 
pet may have one ply of green yarn and the 
other of red. If the red ply forms the 
ground color of the design, then the green ply will be the 
figure color, and wherever the green yarn appears over the 
red ply that is ingraining. Two-tone carpets are used, as a 
rule, for churches only. The more general this ingraining 
or mixing up of the two plies, the more durable the fabric 
will be. A skillful designer will always mix his plies as 
closely as possible to avoid "pockets." The plies are of 
equal texture and are united at the edges by the selvage 
threads. 

In weaving Ingrain the warp threads are moved by the 
Jacquard. For a two-color eflfect the filling threads are 
thrown by the shuttle from right to left and then about or 
back again. 

In the shotabout ply two or more shuttles are used. When 
both plies are shuttled with two colors each, the weave is 
called a double shotabout. In a plain Ingrain each ply has 
but one color. In a plain and shotabout weave, one ply 
is plain and the other is a shotabout ply composed of threads 
of two or more dififerent colors alternating, as, for instance, 
green and white, giving the effect of three colors in the car- 
pet. In double shotabout each ply is a shotabout one, giv- 



70 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

ing a design in four colors, say, black, red, green and white. 
Until the invention of the mate thread weave two dark 
threads could not be brought up together in a carpet, it be- 
ing necessary to bring a light one up with a dark thread 
or vice versa. The mate thread device, by enabling the 
weaver to bring up either light or dark threads together, 
makes four-color effects possible. 

In the old style Kidderminster Ingrain the warp yarns 
were three-thread worsted, but in the modern goods two- 
thread yarn is generally used, because this makes a saving 
in the most expensive material used in the carpet, and, 
moreover, the finer the warp yarn the more scope there is 
for shading in the weft colors. 

Venetian carpets are made with a worsted or cotton warp 
and a jute filling. The warp is colored and makes the 
figure effect. In the weaving a Jacquard is used, but it is 
much less complicated than the one employed for Ingrain 
carpets. Venetians are used only for stairs and halls. 

Wool Dutch carpets are not used now. They have a heavy 
warp and a thick single filling. The warp is woven in so as 
to form stripes, making what is called a Dutch plaid pat- 
tern. The Jacquard employed is of a very simple kind, 
having but one card and resembling that w^iich is used for 
weaving plain Ingrain filling. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Straw Matting. 



r^.^^:^^. 



HE straw matting which comes 
from China is manufactured 
from a species of reed or 
grass having cuhiis which 
grow as high as 6 feet. 
When it has acquired the 
proper height the grass is 
cut, spread out in the open 
air to dry, then roughly 
sorted, packed in bales and 
delivered to the matting- 
manufacturer, who sorts it 
again according to its fine- 
ness, uniformity and color. 
The freshest, greenest look- 
ing straw is taken for white matting, and the rest is put 
aside to be dyed. In the familiar red and white check mat- 
ting the red color is given by sapanwood. For all other 
colors aniline dyes are used. 

In Japan the matting manufacturers use a straw, 
like the Chinese, from which they make what is called the 
Bungo weave, but a larger proportion of the matting which 
comes from China is made of straw which is smaller than 
the Chinese and this makes what is called the Bingo mat- 
ting. This kind of straw is easier to manipulate and can be 
woven in designs much more elaborate and handsome than 
is possible with the Chinese reed, but it is not so durable. 




72 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

In both China and Japan the loom on which the matting 
is woven is of the same pattern, consisting merely of an 
upright bamboo framework with cylindrical crosspieces 
above and below, over which the warp runs, the woof being 
woven in withuut a shuttle. The movement of the warp 
is governed by the weaving beam or bar, a piece of wood 
2 inches square and about a foot longer than the width of 
the matting which is to be woven. The bar is pierced with 
thirty-nine small holes, to receive the warp threads, the front 
row of holes being about three-sixteenths of an inch to the 
right or left of those on the opposite face, through which 
the other row of warp is threaded. The warp threads are 
made of hemp, and are oiled to make them smooth. When 
the warp become loose it is tightened by driving wedges 
between the upright and crosspieces of the loom. 

The weaver handles his bar by means of a peg inserted 
midway in it. With this peg held at a right angle to the 
weave the warps are in normal position. When the peg is 
turned up the front row of warp threads moves back, and 
when the movement of the peg is reversed the back row of 
threads moves forward. Between each upward and down- 
ward turn of the bar the weaver's assistant, who kneels at his 
right with bundles of straw for the woof on the ground 
before him, draws from a bundle a straw of the color called 
for by the pattern, catches it in a notch cut in the end of a 
slender piece of bamboo about 4 feet in length, and holding 
the straw in this way places it horizontally between the 
two rows of warp threads. The weaver seizes the end of 
the straw, which passes beyond the left hand selvage and 
twists it around the selvage cord, while the assistant twists 
the right hand end in the same way. Then the beam is 
brought down with sufficient force, to press the warp straws 
closely together. 



HJS TORY AND MAN UFA CTURE. 73 

When the loom has woven a piece of matting 2, 4 or 5 
yards in length the selvage is cut down clean with a knife, 
and the matting or mat is taken otf the loom, which is then 
provided with another warp. As the straw is always wet 
before the weaving, the woven pieces are dried in the sun 
or over slow burning wood fires. To make the ordinary 
roll of matting a number of these pieces sufficient to meas- 
ure altogether 40 yards are joined, this being done by 
running the warp ends of each two pieces in opposite di- 
rections under the woof, a smooth, fiat bamboo needle 
being used for this purpose. The roll is then ready for 
packing. 

Jointless matting is made on a loom which differs but 
slightly from that which is used in making the joined goods, 
the only change consisting in arrangements for loosening 
the warp and pulling it over whenever about 2 yards of the 
matting have been woven, the finished part being passed 
back under the loom. As the beam cannot beat up the 
woof so closely with this arrangement the texture of the 
jointless goods is quite loose. 

To remedy this the roll is made somewhat longer than 
40 yards, and is then stretched tightly over a tall box-like 
structure, open at the top, and containing in its centre a 
charcoal fire. Two coolies, one standing at one selvage of 
the roll, the other at the opposite selvage, then apply their 
hands to both sides of the matting, loosening and then 
forcing down the straw to the firmness desired. While this 
raking, as it is called, is going on the heat from the charcoal 
fire is removing the moisture from the matting. 




CHAPTER XIV. 
Cocoa Matting. 



,ocoA or coir matting is made iron, the itbrou^ 
rind or ln,sl< of tlie cocoanut. The eo.oa- 
ntu pain, tree, which produces these ntU. 
is cultivated in Ceylon, the Ma aba 
coast, the Straits Settlements, the .sla^,d 
of the Eastern Archipelago, the West 

I„dies, Centra, An,erica, Urazil -^ f ;;t::;,'td'"om the 
The husk, which contams the f^ -■ " . ^. „f ;„„ ,, 

„„t by pressntg H upon the 1-"' ?^^ '^^P '^^ ,„„ p„ced 
„,rd wood fixed '"'-f -tiled th"^esh water. If the 
hr soakutg tanks, -' * ^^^^ '^ ^,,, „„t, „e s.mply buried 
„.ees are on or nea. " «=*;;° ;• ^^^ ^^^, „ater may reach 
::fZ^:rt:^.^ .nde . t,. hbres ..0. 

!-^f^rr™:-=::::r;^;.-ntac- 

:::. :^ husks w..h -rd w^e .ubs or mallets^^^ ^^^^^ 

The fibre, or con-, as ^^ '^-^^ ^ .^^^^ =, ^^ being 

rovings or sheaves, which are tw st ^ 

rolled in a peculiar n.anner ^e *een the pa ms o ^^^^ 

A„ these operations are Pf -^f„'^> ^^s 'tI- separa- 

countries where the cocoanut palm ■•« gj°« j,^ 

tion of the fibre from the nut and th '«-'"»'' \^^^ 

°"T^rr'Th?cosrorZt~o:"i:w and the 

;:u1pm::y .nad,- ^y is so ntt,ch ntfer.or to the hand- 



76 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

made product that all attempts to introduce machines in 
this work have proved impracticable. 

The first process to which the yarn is subjected in the 
matting factory is bleaching, and, as all the skeins are not of 
equal texture and do not have the same color after bleach- 
ing, they are sorted according to shade or tint and texture. 

The yarn intended for the warp is reeled upon bobbins 
about a foot in length, and these are placed on a frame at the 
back of the matting loom. Each thread passes separately 
through a reed, which keeps it in place, and then between a 
pair of iron rollers with roughened surfaces, which hold it 
tightly. The woven fabric also passes between a similar pair 
of rollers, whose purpose is to give the tension desired. The 
shuttle used is quite large, and the yarn for the filling is 
wound on a cob large enough to fit tightly in the shuttle. 
No spindle is used and the yarn unwinds from the end. 

The matting loom is operated by power, and, unlike most 
other kinds of power looms, it requires constant and ardu- 
ous labor to make it weave properly. This is owing to the 
difficulty in giving the necessary tension to the weft threads. 
The yarn is so coarse and harsh that every contrivance for 
tightening the weft sufiiciently for a perfect selvage tends to 
interfere seriously with the working of the shuttle. The 
workman is therefore obliged to catch the thread behind the 
shuttle every time it passes through and draw it tight, an 
operation which considerably retards the speed of the loom. 

Ordinary cocoanut matting is woven with a certain kind 
of twill in a three-leaved harness, two extra threads running 
in special loops, alternating up and dowai for selvage. In 
Calcutta-made matting this twill is reversed every five or six 
mches, so as to give the fabric a striped appearance. But 
all goods having this appearance do not come from Cal- 
cutta, for the American manufacturers produce the same ef- 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 77 

feet by reversing the order in which the warp threads are 
drawn into the harness. 

The looms on which cocoa mats are made are like an old- 
fashioned hand loom of the most primitive style; but they 
are very strong and substantial, as great tension is needed 
and heavy blows must be dealt with the lathe to beat the fill- 
ing up tightly. The warp is wound upon the beam in the 
ordinary manner and passes through a plain two-leaved 
harness. 

In making fibre mats the workman uses the loose cocoa- 
nut fibre, having first run it through a picker. He springs 
the harness, and twisting a bunch of the fibre into a wisp or 
loose strand, passes the end of it under each alternate warp 
thread as it is brought uppermost by the harness, cutting ofY 
each time a length sufficient to form the pile of the mat. 
The loose ends which are too short to be fastened in are 
pulled out. After a tuft of fibre is thus placed under each 
warp thread across the loom, the harness is sprung about 
and a weft thread run through as a binder. In the better 
grades of mats Zanzibar yarn is used for the weft. In 
cheaper goods renmants or short ends are employed. The 
harness is then sprung again and the process of inserting 
fibre is repeated. When the mat is woven to the size de- 
sired the warp is set forward some inches, leaving a number 
uf bare threads. The mats are finally cut apart, finished on 
the edges with braid and sheared on the surface by a ma- 
chine resembling a cloth shearer. 

Coir mats are made in a similar manner, but, instead of 
loose fibre, the weaver has a large ball of yarn from which 
he forms the tufts. The weaving requires less time than it 
does for a fibre mat. The weaver, after springing the har- 
ness, passes the end of the yarn through from one side, while 
from the other, on top of the warp, he pushes forward a fiat 



78 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

iron rod, grooved on the edge, upon which he winds the 
yarn, bringing up the loops between successive warp threads 
while pushing the rod along. When the yarn is thus wound 
across the warp a straight thread is run through for a 
binder, the rod is turned, with the groove uppermost, and 
the threads are cut by running a knife along the groove. 
The harness is then changed, the filling well beaten up with 
the lathe and the operation of winding the yarn on the rod 
repeated as before. 



::^!^ 



CHAPTER XV. 
Floor Oil Cloth. 

N the manufacture of floor oil cloth the first step is the 
preparation of the foundation, which is composed of jute 

:)urlap. 

It is necessary to size the foundation, and in making nar- 
-ovv oil cloths the sizing is done by drawing the burlap 
:hrough troughs filled with liquid glue, rye flour, tapioca 
^\■ varnish, the best among these different sizes being a 
matter of opinion among manufacturers. The burlap is 









GREEN. 



BLACK. 



drawn through the troughs by means of rollers, which press 
the surplus sizing out of the cloth as it passes between 
them. 

The sized surface is then rubbed thoroughly with pieces 
of pumice stone, this operation being performed either by 
hand or by a simple mechanical arrangement, in which the 
"rubbers" are moved over the surface by steam power. 

When the cloth has been rubbed smooth and even, it is 



80 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

then covered with a mixture composed of ochre, linseed oil 
and benzine. In order to make this coating even and uni- 
form in thickness the cloth is passed under an arrange- 
ment of metal blades which scrape off superfluous paint. 
The coating, when dry, is rubbed smooth with pumice- 
stone, and this process of coating and rubbing is performed 
several times, the number depending or. the quality of the 
goods desired. 

The printing of the pattern on the cloth, which is the 
next step in the process, was formerly done by hand en- 
tirely, but most manufacturers now use machinery for this 
purpose. In printing by machinery the cloth passes over 
a flat table, and under the printing blocks, which have a 
rising and falling motion. In the old manner of printing by 
hand the blocks were i8 inches square, and only this 
amount of surface was printed at one time with each block, 
but in the present method the blocks extend entirely across 
the cloth. The printing blocks are made of wood, and each 
color used in the pattern requires a separate block. The 
pattern is carved on the blocks in relief, the portions left 
uncut being those which form the design. The manner in 
which each separate block presents a surface exactly cor- 
responding to one of the colors in the pattern is shown in 
the illustrations presented herewith, which represent a pat- 
tern with six colors and the six blocks used for it. 

The colors employed are spread on the blocks by an ar- 
rangement of troughs and rollers. A roller revolving in a 
trough filled with coloring material passes across the face 
of a printing block, which then descends upon the cloth, 
makes its particular impression and rises again, each block 
printing its own separate color in this way until the pat- 
tern is complete. 

When the printing is completed the cloth is taken to the 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



81 



drying room, where artifieial heat is employed to facihtate 
the drying. When sufficiently dry and hard the cloth is 
placed flat upon a platform, varnished, trimmed and rolled 
up ready for the market. 

The blocks used for printing are made of the best white 
pine, thoroughly seasoned. They are about i^ inch thick 
and are faced with hard wood, usually maple, which is glued 
on. The face is generally creased by sawing fine parallel 
lines in one direction or both before the carving, as this 
facilitates the tracing of the design and the cutting away ol 




YELLOW. 



BLUE. 



the superfluous wood. In order to get certain effects m the 
printing some parts of the design may be cut or punched 
in metal, these portions being then fastened to the faces of 
the blocks as required. 

The pattern to be used is drawn and painted in full on 
paper, every color and part of the design being produced 
exactly as it is ultimately to appear. This design is then 
reproduced on the surfaces of the printing blocks, the num- 
ber of these depending, as has been explained, upon the 
number of colors in the pattern. The part of the design 



82 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



apportioned to each particular block is transferred to it by 
a tracing process, and the figure is then cut in relief as indi- 
cated by the tracing. 

Besides the carved blocks, manufacturers use what are 
called pin-blocks. These are made in three pieces, to 
prevent warping, the pieces being securely cemented to- 
gether. The middle one is of pine and the outer ones are 
of maple, the grain of these running at right angles to that 
of the inner piece. The printing surface is sawed across 




COMBINED COLORS. 



at close intervals in two directions at right angles to each 
other, and a surface thus produced composed of pins or 
pegs, the narrow interstices being regular and uniform. 
In preparing the block for its design all the pins not neces- 
sary for producing the figure desired are cut away. 

The process of manufacturing sheet oil cloth differs 
somewhat from that which has been described, but the 
difference is simply in the manipulation of the cloth, the 
composition of the goods and general principles of manu- 
facture being- the same. 



CHAPTER XVI. 




Linoleum. 

T»o main ingredients in the manufacture of 
linoleum are cork and linseed oil, to which 
are added smaller quantities of kauri gum, 
resm, and pigments of various kinds. In 
the manufacture of bottle corks about one- 
half of tlic cork is wasted, and this waste 
Tl. chief source of the cork for linoleum. The cork 
a e after being freed from dust and other admixed sub- 
.:„:es hv means of a sieve with a rapid --.P-a mg 
motion is crushed. This sounds very smiple, but, as 
a ,er of fact, the machinery required for the actua opera- 
™ has to be of special character, on account of ' - - -'^ 
„i cork and the almost incredible rapidity with «h-h '^'""t 
Ihe hardest steel knife edge. The breaker reduces he cork 
o pieces of about the si.e of a pea. in which state it is pass d 
™ o the grinding mill, which is like an ordniarv flour mill, 
t tvith s'ones of lava, sandstone, or some other rough ma- 
terial Cork dust being excessively light, quickly dis- 
e ninates itself through the air of the mill ^^^ ^^^ 
precautions have to be taken to prevent the explosive mix- 
n re of air and cork dust being set on fire. Even when the 
"eatest care has been observed small explosions are some- 
dmes caused bv sparks from the machinery. 

The next stage in the manufacture is the preparation o 
wl^ s echnicrily known as -cement." the chie ingredien 
of which is oxidized linseed oil. .\s everyone know , o Is 
are divisible into two classes, drying and non-drying oils, the 



84 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

drying being brought about in the case of the first named 
by the absorption of oxygen from the air, and the conse- 
quent transformation of the oil into a solid resinous mass. 
P'or linoleum manufacture the linseed oil used must be of 
good quality, and great care must be taken in its treatment. 
The oil is first boiled, much as in the manufactiire of paints 
and varnishes. The process of drying is facilitated hy the 
addition of a small quantity of oxide of lead. The boiled 
oil, after being allowed to deposit any sediment in it in a 
settling tank, is pumped to the top of a high building and 
allowed to flow thence over a numlier of pieces of light cot- 
ton fabric, known as "scrim." which hang vertically from 
iron bars. The air of the l)uilding being heated to a tem- 
perature of about lOO degrees Fahrenheit, the layer of oil 
which adheres to the surface of the scrim liecomes oxidized ; 
that is, it solidifies, in the course of twenty-four hours. 

This operation is repeated dail}' for six to eight weeks, 
until a suflficient number of solidified layers of oil are de- 
posited on the cloth, the mass of oxidized oil having then a 
thickness of half an inch, and being termed "a skin." These 
skins are then cut down and ground between rollers. 

To prepare the linoleum "cement" itself, the ground oil 
is mixed with resin and kauri gum until the whole mass is 
homogeneous. The cement and cork dust are then mixed 
together thoroughly, and if the linoleum is to be plain the 
coloring matter necessary is added at this stage. The mix- 
ture is then rolled upon a backing of jute burlap which 
passes between two cylinders to insure evenness and uni- 
formity of thickness in the coating. 

The printing of the pattern is the next step in the process, 
and there is no very material difference between the method 
of printing linoleum and that adopted for floor oil cloths. 

The latest and most important improvement in linoleuiu 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 85 

manufacture is the production of mosaic or inlaid goods, in 
which the colors do not appear on the surface only, but go 
through to the very hack of the cloth. 

Several patents have been granted in this country and 
abroad for methods of obtaining this result. In one process 
the linoleum cement having been made to a certain thick- 
ness, is cut into separate pieces by dies, and these pieces, 
shaped and colored to make the pattern desired, are then 
placed upon a burlap backing. Pressure is then applied to 
the mass until the canvas and coating are thorouglTly united. 
After drying the backing is treated with a preparation of 
resin and other ingredients to make it waterproof, and the 
goods are then ready for the market. 

Tn another process the linoleum mixture is in the form of 
a powder, which is dropped upon the jute backing so as to 
represent the designs and colors essential for the pattern, 
and the powdered mass is then subjected to heavy pressure 
from a heated plate until it is completely fused and firmly 
attached to the backing. 



S 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Skin Rugs and Mats. 

I N the manufacture of sheepskin rugs and mats the first 
I step is the salting of the pelts. As they come to the 
factory from the slaughter house they are piled up m layers, 
each layer being thickly salted. The room in which they 
are kept must be as cool as possible to avoid heatmg or 
sweating, which would quickly destroy the skms. 

The soaking, which is the next process, is done m soft 
water, which in cold weather is slightly warmed. The skm 
must be softened thoroughly and the soaking necessary tor 
this is done very carefully to prevent the loosenmg of the 
fleece at its roots. After soaking the skin twelve hours m 
the first water, this is replaced by fresh water, m which 
the skin is kept for twelve hours more. It is then placed 
over a beam or horse with the flesh upward, and stretched, 
scraped and scoured. The scraping is done with a dull iron 
tool similar to a large drawing knife, and in the cleaning 
soap, soda and water are used freely, but the soda must 
not be employed so much as to make the skin brittle. The 
cleaning process is finished by rinsing the skin thoroughly 
in clear water, and it is then hung on a horse to dry. but 
when the skin is to be dyed of certain colors it is first soaked 
in a strong lime bath to remove any traces of grease which 
may have remained after the scouring. 

Dyeing sheepskins is a difficult operation, requiring great 
care. The wool must be dyed hot, and as the heated dye- 
stufT would spoil the leather if it came in contact with it, 
the wool side must be dipped in the dye so that a small space 
is left between the surface of the bath and the leather. In 
doing this a small part of the wool near the skin is not sub- 



88 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

merged in the bath, but the fleece is nevertheless dyed to 
the roots, for the hquid color moves along or is drawn onto 
the very roots of the wool, and dyes the grain of the skin 
also. Skins with long fleeces are the best for dyeing, and for 
this reason winter skins are preferred. 

It is next necessary to treat the flesh side of the skin by 
stretching it and closing up the pores. The skin is stretched 
upon a wooden frame similar to an old-fashioned quilting 
frame. Cords are attached at intervals to the edges of the 
skin, and the other ends of the cords are wound around pegs. 
By turning these pegs with a key the cords are tightened, 
and the skin is stretched lengthwise or laterally as desired. 
The pores are closed by the application of a solution of alum 
and salt to the flesh side. This serves also to tighten the 
roots of the fleece. While the solution is being applied, the 
skin is scraped with a tool made for this i)urpose, and the 
pressure caused by the scraping stretches the skin so much 
that frequent tightening of the pegs is necessary to keep 
it taut. When this process is finished the skin is semi- 
dried and the flesh side is then scraped, or shaved, with a 
keen-edged knife of peculiar shape. In the drying room, 
where the skin goes next, the back is pared and rubbed down 
with whiting, which absorbs any traces of grease which may 
still remain. The skin is then ready to be made into a mat 
or worked with others into a rug. 

Our American sheep furnish the raw material for nearly 
all our sheepskin mats and rugs, l)ut the .\ngora goatskin 
rugs and mats are made of imported skins. 

Fine rugs are made from the skins of tigers, leopards, 
bears, foxes, wolves, dogs and other animals. The prepa- 
ration of the pelts and heads for these rugs is a trade in it- 
self. Tiger, bear and leopard skins make especiallv hand- 
some rugs and are correspondinglv costly. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Principle of the Loom. 

In the engravings presented herewitli will be found a 
clear and simple illustration of the fundamental principle 
involved in the art of weaving. 




The materials used in this object lesson consist, as shown 
in the engravings, of a piece of cardboard, two lead pencils, 
some thread and a heavy book to serve as a weight. The 
lead pencils are made to serve as the warp beams: the 



90 



FLOOR COVERINGS. 



hedclle may be cut out of the card witli a penknife, with 
which also a shuttle may be fashioned, as shown in Fig. 2. 
( )n the shuttle should be wound the thread that is to serve 
as the weft to be passed through the threads of the 
chain. 

To rig- up this improvised loom it is only necessary to 
place the two pencils on the edge of a table, held firmly in 
place by the weight of the book, as shown in l^^ig. 1. Xow 
comes the operation of warping, which is done as follows: 
h^asten one end of the thread that is to form the warp chain 




to one of the pencils, pass the other end through the first 
slit in the heddle, then around the other pencil and through 
the first aperture, then around the first pencil, and so on 
until the last slit in the heddle is reached. 

The next step is the weaving. For this purpose the hed- 
dle should be raised and lowered alternately, while at each 
motion the shuttle carrying the weft is passed through the 
warp threads, one-half of which will be alternately lifted 
and lowered bv the raising and lowering of the heddle. 
After each passage of the shuttle the weft thread may be 
pushed home to the web with the aid of a paper cutter. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Carpet Cyclopedia. 

Art Square— An Ingrain carpet woven in one piece. 

AUBUSSON-A French carpet made on a tapestry hand loom. 
The warp i.s cotton and the weft consists of woolen yarns ol 
the colors called for by the design. The welt yarns are m- 
seried ui the warp by hand, the weaver! using a small bobbm 
or broach similar to that which is employed for Gobelin 

AxAUNSTER-i. A hand made carpet, having a warp of Imen threads, 
with a pile of woolen tnfts tied in by hand m Oriental fashion. 
2 A carpet with a linen, cotton or jute warp and a chenille weft. 
3. A machine-made carpet similar to an American Moquette. 

Batten Lay or Comb.-A swinging bar which beats up or forces 
closely together the weft yarns in the operation of weaving. 

Beam-A round, horizontal part of a loom, on which the warp or 
the woven fabric is wound. 

BoBBiN-A spool carried by the shuttle and on which the weft or 
filling is wound. 

Brussels-A carpet having a cotton or linen chain, a linen hlliig 
and a warp of colored worsted yarn, which is raised by the 
Jacquard machine into loops in the weaving to form the pattern. 

Brussels Tapestry— See Tapestry Carpets. 

Brussels Stouts-A Brussels carpet having only 208 or 216 ends 
of worsted warp to each frame instead of 256 ends, as m regu- 
lar five frame Brussels. In weaving Stouts, jute yarn is used 
to replace the worsted yarn omitted, and also to give body to 

the fabric. . 

CHAiN-The warp threads of a fabric, the pattern chain. _ 
Cloth BEAM-The bar on which a fabric is wound as it is woven 

in the loom. . , 1 • j 

Color, CoMPLEMENTARY-One of two colors which when combined 

produce white or nearly white light, as orange and blue. _ 

COLOR. Primary-i. The principal colors into which white light is 

separated bv a prism. 2. Those colors which when mixed (in 

pigments) produce any color, as red, blue, yellow. _ 

Color. SECONDARY-Three colors, each of which is formed by mix- 



92 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

ing two so-called primary colors, as green (blue and yellow), 
orange (red and yellow), and purple (red and blue). 

Color, Tertiary — A color such as olive, russet or citrine, produced 
by mixture of a primary and a secondary color. 

Comb — See Batten. 

Cop — A conical roll of thread or yarn found on the spindle of a spin- 
ning machine. 

Cop Tube — The tube on which the thread or yarn is wound. 

Drop Box — A box used in a figure weaving loom, to hold a number 
of shuttles, any one of which may be brought into operation as 
desired. 

Filling, Weft, Woof — -The threads or yarns thrown by the shuttle 
through the warp from selvage to selvage. 

Granite — An all cotton carpet, an adaptation of the damask weave, 
the pattern being formed by the warp instead of the filling. 

Harness — An apparatus used for lifting threads in a loom. 

Harness Frame — An upright board for guiding the cords of a loom 
harness. 

Harness Shaft — A device for holding and guiding the heddles in 
a loom. 

Heck — A vertical grated frame, through the meshes of which the 
warp threads pass. 

Heddle or Heald — A series of vertical cords or wires, each of which 
has in the middle a loop or eye, which receives a warp thread. 
The heddles pass around and between parallel bars, forming part 
of the harness, and by rising and falling alternately cross the 
warp threads and form sheds for the passage of the shuttle. 

Hemp Carpet — ^A fabric made with a jute warp and filling in two 
or more plies. 

Ingrain — A carpet made in two plies, the warp being worsted or 
cotton, with a wool filling. 

Jacquard — An apparatus used for weaving figure patterns. It 
consists of a chain of perforated cards, which move over a ro- 
tating prism. The perforations permit the passage of wires, 
which determine by their movements the raising of the warp 
tlireads, and thus cause the figure to be woven in accordance 
with the arrangement of the perforations. 

Jute Ingrain — A carpet made like an Ingrain, but with a cotton 
warp and jute filling. 



HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



93 



KiDDERMiNSTER-An Ii.gram carpet, so called because first manu- 
factured largely at Kidderminster, England. 

Lay— See Batten. . 

LooM-A machine m which yarn or thread is woven into a iabnc 
by the crossing of the warp or chain by other threads called the 
weft or filling. 

MoouETTF—i. A French pile carpet resembling a Wilton, but made 
~on a hand loom. 2. An American pile carpet woven on a 
power loom which forms the pile by fastening tufts of woolen 
yarn into the warp. 

Oriental Rugs (and Carpets) -Goods woven in Eastern countries 
and made m one piece, usually with a linen or hemp warp and 
filling, and a pile consisting of tufts of colored wool, twisted 
around the warp by the weaver's fingers. 
Pattern Card— Tiie perforated card m a Jacquard apparatus, repre- 
senting part of the pattern. 
Pattern Chain— A device for operating the shuttle in figure 

weaving. 
Pick— I. The blow that drives a loom shuttle. 2. A unit of speed or 

measurement of work done by a loom. 
Picker Staff (or Stick)— A lever used to impart motion to a 

shuttle. 
Pro-Brussels— A carpet woven on an Ingrain loom but with both 
faces bound together. The warp threads are of jute, one-half of 
them being used for binding threads and the other half as a 
stuffer. The pattern is produced entirely by the interweaving of 
the weft, which is wool. 
Reeu— This part of a loom consists of two horizontal bars, con- 
nected by thin parallel strips between which the warp threads 
pass. It is used to keep the threads separated from one another, 
and also to preserve the proper distance between the selvage 
threads. 
Savonnerie— I. A French carpet woven in one piece on a high warp 
tapestry loom, the warp being of wool and the weft of worsted 
threads, which are fastened by a double knot on two threads of 
the warp. 2. An American carpet similar to the American Mo- 
quette or Axminster, but somewhat thicker and heavier. 
Shade — A color mixed with black. 
Shuttle — A boat-shaped piece of wood which holds the bobbin from 



94 FLOOR COVERINGS. 

which the weft thread or filUng unwinds as the shuttle moves to 
and fro between the warp threads. 

Shuttle-box — i. A case placed at the end of the shuttle-race to re- 
ceive the shuttle after it has been thrown by the picker. 2. One 
of a series of compartments containing shuttles carrying different 
colored threads. 

Shuttle-kace — The track on which the shuttle travels in a loom. 

Smyrna Carpet or Rug — A chenille Axminster fabric woven with 
two faces, the wool being on both sides instead of one. In the 
finished carpet or rug the warp is of cotton thread and the weft 
of chenille, with a thread of jute as tilling between each strip of 
chenille. 

Tapestry, or Tapestry Brussels — A carpet fabric in which the 
woolen warp forming the surface is dyed in the yarn in such a 
manner as to produce a pattern when woven. Tapestry carpets 
have a linen or cotton weft or binding thread and a jute yarn 
backing. 

Temple — An attachment to a loom which holds the last woven part 
of a fabric stretched to prevent chafing of the warp in weaving. 

Tint — A color diluted with white. 

Velvet — A Tapestry carpet in which the loops made by the pattern 
warp threads are cut, thus forming a velvety surface. Velvet 
carpets have about 25 per cent, more wool than is used for 
Tapestry Brussels. 

Venetian — A carpet fabric having a worsted or cotton warp and a 
jute filling, the warp being colored and forming the figure. 

Warp — The threads or yarn running lengthwise in a fabric, and be- 
tween which the cross threads of weft or filling are woven. 

Warp Beam — The roller on which the warp is wound. 

Web — A textile fabric, a name used especially to designate a fabric 
in the piece or being woven in the loom. 

Weft, Fillinc. Woof — See Filling. 

Weft Fork — That part of the stop motion which causes the stoppage 
of the loom when a filling thread breaks or fails. 

Wilton — A carpet made like Brussels carpeting, excepting that it 
has about 50 per cent, more wool, and that the loops on the face 
are cut so as to form a velvety surface. 

Woof, Weft, Filling — See Filling. 

Wool, Dutch — A carpet having a heavy warp and a single thick fill- 
ing, the warp being woven in so as to form stripes. 



I N D E X. 



PAGE 

Afghan rugs 36, },■] , 39, 40 

Agra carpets 40 

Anatolian rugs t^t^ 

Art squares 91 

Aubusson carpets 91 

Axminster chenille carpets 45, 45, 47 

hand-made carpet> 45, 46 

machine-made carpets (13. 04 

Batten 91 

Beam 91 

Bobbin 91 

Bokhara rugs 36, t^"/ . 39, 40 

Brussels, body, carpels 49, 50, 51, 91 

Brussels, printed, carpets 59, 60, ()i 

Brussels, stouts, carpets 91 

Brussels, tapestry carpets 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 91 

Cabul rugs 40 

Cabistan carpets 35 

Candahar rugs 40 

Carpet Cyclopedia 91, 92, 93, 94 

Carpet Industry m the United States. .15, 16, 17, 18. 19, 20, 21, 21, 2},, 24 

Carpeting m anti(|uity 3, 4. 5, 6, 7 

Carpet ntaking in Great Britain 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 14 

Chain 91 

Chinese matting 71, ^2. 73 

Cloth beam 91 

C(Jcoa matting 75. 76, j"], 78 

Ci ilor, complementary 91 

Ijrimary 91 

secondary 91 

tertiary 92 

Comb 9- 

Cop 9-^ 

Cop tube 9-2 



96 INDEX. 



PAGE 



Daghestan rugs 34, 35, 36 

Dimirdjes rugs 2,2, 

Dj orzaii rugs 38 

Drop box g2 

Ferehan carpets 38 

Filling Q2 

Floor oil cloth 79. 80, Si, 82 

Ghillem rugs and portieres 40 

Ghiordes rugs and carpets -t^-i) 

Granite carpets 92 

Hamedan rugs 38 

Harness 92 

frame 92 

shaft 92 

Heald 92 

Heck 92 

Heddle 92 

Hemp carpet 92 

Herati rugs 38 

Heraz rugs 38 

Indian rugs and carpets 40 

Ingrain carpets 69. 70. 92 

Jacquard apparatus 92 

Japanese matting 71. "ji, j^ 

Jute ingrain carpet 92 

Karabagh rugs 35 

Kazak rugs 36 

Khiva carpets 2>7 

Khorassan rugs 39 

Kidderminster carpets 93 

Kirman rugs 33. 39 

Koula rugs 2ii 

Kurdistan rugs 39 

Lay 93 

Linoleum 83, 84, 85 

Loom 93 

Loom, principle of 89, 90 

Maharajah carpets 40 

Marzuliptan carpetsl 40 



IXDEX. 9~ 



PAGIi 



Matting, Chinese 7 ' • 7^- 73, 

cocoa 75. 76. 77. 7!^ 

Japanese 7'- 72, 73 

straw 71. 7-2. 73 

Meles rugs ^^ 

Mirzapore rugs 4° 

Moquette carpets ^'3- 64. 93 

Mossul rugs ^° 

Namad carpets 4° 

Oil cloth, floor 79. 80, 81, 82 

Oriental rugs and carpets. 25. 2b. 27, 28, 29. 30. 31. 3-^ ii- 34. 35- 36, 

?,7- 3'"^. 39. 40, 93 

Oushak rugs and carpets ^^ 

Pattern card 93 

Pattern chani 93 

Persian rugs and carpets M- 3^. 39. 4° 

Pick 93 

Picker staff ; 93 

Principle of the loom '"^9. 90 

Pro-Brussels carpet 93 

Punjaub carpets 4° 

Pushmeina carpets 40 



Reed 



93 



Rugs. Oriental 25. 26. 27. 28. 29, 30. 31. 3^^ 33^ 93 

'• Smyrna ^'5. 66. 67, 94 

animal and sheepskin <-7. 88 

Savelan rugs •^' 

Savonnerie carpets 4'. 42. 43. Q4 

Sedjades rugs and wall hangings 3^ 

Sennah rugs -^ ' -^9 

Serebend rugs -'"^ 

Sl-de „ 94 

Sheepskin rugs : ^7. o^ 

Shiraz rugs ^ 

Shirvan rugs '^"^ 

Shuttle 94 

Shuttle-box 94 

Shuttle-race 94 

Smyrna rugs and carpets 65. 66. 67. 94 



98 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Straw matting 71, J2, y^ 

Sumac 2>i 

Tapestry or Tapestry Brussels carpets 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 94 

Tapestry printed carpets 59, 60, 61 

Teheran rugs 38 

Temple 94 

Tint 94 

Turkish rugs and carpets 33, 34 

Velvet carpets 53. 54. 55. 5^'. 57. 94 

Venetian carpets 94 

Warp 94 

Warp beam 94 

Web 94 

Weft, woof, filling 94 

Weft fork 94 

Woof, weft, filling 94 

Wool, Dutch 94 

Youroke rugs 33 



APR m ^899 



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